New release blends violin and electronics in experimental Welsh project

Cysgodion, an album of experimental works for violin and electronics by emerging Welsh, Japanese, Irish, French and American composers performed by Darragh Morgan, will be released early next month.

Released on Sionci, Tŷ Cerdd’s artist-led label, Cysgodion (Shadows) brings together compositions by Angharad Davies, Sara Evelyn, Delyth Field, Joseph Graydon, Joshua Lascar, Richard McReynolds, and Natalie Roe.

The album showcases distinctive new voices from Wales exploring the intersections of acoustic and electronic experimentation.

Each work explores a distinct approach to integrating the expressive textures of the live violin with creative electronics – through improvisation, live processing, modular synthesis, field recordings, fixed media, tape machine, sound design, and sampling.

Each composer also produced their own track, with some pieces also incorporating electronic performance by the artists themselves, reflecting the energy and breadth of new electroacoustic composition emerging in Wales.

Irish violinist Darragh Morgan is a renowned exponent of contemporary music. He has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician around the world, and has recorded over 75 albums, many of which are award-winning.

Darragh’s violin performance for Cysgodion was recorded at Tŷ Cerdd’s Studio in Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff, and the wider project was developed through Tŷ Cerdd’s Ffidil Plws programme (part of the organisation’s broader CoDI artist-development initiative), where six new works were created through an intensive programme of workshops and mentoring from Darragh Morgan and experimental violinist and improviser Angharad Davies.

Angharad is a Welsh violinist and composer, working in free-improvisation and experimental performance. Her approach to sound involves attentive listening and exploring beyond the sonic confines of her instrument, her classical training, and performance expectation.

Angharad said: “Artist-development opportunities like Ffidil Plws create a bedrock for sharing ideas, techniques and experience, not only from mentor to mentee but also between all that are involved behind the scenes in the project in every capacity – they are vital places to nourish and build communities.”

Darragh Morgan said: “Having collaborated with and commissioned new work from hundreds of composers internationally, and with two dedicated album releases of music ‘for violin and electronics’, I am delighted that this artist-development platform exists for me to share my expertise, experiences and working practices, instilling and encouraging critical and decisive engagement with the possibilities of the medium with composers who might not have had these opportunities previously.”

Also featured on Cysgodion are Delyth Maiya Field, a Japanese-Welsh composer with a passionate interest in both electronic and acoustic music, and Joseph Graydon, a composer from South Wales whose work has been performed and recorded by EXAUDI Vocal Ensemble, Plus Minus Ensemble, UPROAR New Music Ensemble Wales, ICTUS Ensemble Brussels, alongside soloists of his own generation.

Sonic possibility 

Joining them is Joshua Lascar, a French-American composer-guitarist self-producing music for Film/TV, with credits including Netflix, Nat. Geo., BBC, Bravo, Channel 4 & 5 and S4C, and Natalie Roe, a composer and electronic artist interested in combining the acoustic and electronic worlds in live performance.

Finally, Richard McReynolds, a Belfast-born composer and multimedia artist living in Cardiff, and Sara Evelyn, a sound and interdisciplinary artist whose compositional practice considers space, materiality, and site, complete Cysgodion.

Darragh added: “My own practice is rooted in the quest to further expand and evolve the sonic possibilities and scope of the violin in this setting, and this collaborative project with these music creators continues in this vein, creating music and raising the bar to aspire to the highest quality work.”

Cysgodion will be released through Sionci Records and available to stream and download on all major platforms on 3 December 2025.