One to watch: Ffion Campbell-Davies weaves magic with debut tracks

Stephen Price

Ffion Campbell-Davies is an artist like no other, and today’s first tastes of music featuring an ancient Welsh instrument are earthy and ethereal masterpieces that are destined to take Ffion, and Wales, on to the global stage.

Ffion is a multidisciplinary artist and Associate Director of House Of Absolute. Born and raised in Wales, Ffion is Welsh speaking, with mixed Grenadian heritage.

A qigong practitioner and vocalist, bringing holistic modalities into performance and ritual. Ffion also works with film, sound design and performance art.

Following the release of Cyn Cwsg and BERIAN’s first singles earlier in the year, Ffion is the third artist to release on UNTRO’s fresh and exciting new label.

Having explored creative avenues such as dance and film over recent years, Ffion is experimenting with music with their first tracks, ‘Yn Yr Afon / Khalon’, which was released today (Friday 26 July). 

Originally recorded for Georgia Ruth on BBC Radio Cymru in April, the two tracks interweave various vocal textures with elements of electronic and folk music.

Delving into themes that include nature, change and love, Ffion explains: “Having had the opportunity to produce two tracks for Georgia Ruth’s programme, I was keen to make something that could convey darkness and light, and I feel like there is a sense of warmth and depth to both songs.”

“‘Khalon’ is a song about a relationship that changes over time while ‘Yn Yr Afon’ is about purity and the natural world.

“Although it seems like a simple song, there is much more to it under the surface. The song is also a reminder of rebirth, surrender and freedom”.

Having worked on several visual projects over the past few years, Ffion self-directed the video that accompanies the track, where it will be shown at Chapter this week ahead of the film, ‘Crossing’.

Two songs with two very different focuses, from Longing & loss to rebirth and remembrance. Existing between the light and the dark, both songs bring warmth and depth, with skinned drums, flute, intertwining folk textures and ethereal vocals.

Khalon is underpinned by a sense of urgency within relationships and lovers lost in the world, whilst Yn Yr Afon is an ethereal surrender into mother natures refreshing waters.

Speaking with Nation.Cymru, Ffion, who is gender fluid and non-binary, said: “Georgia Ruth had initially invited me to create two songs that we could later play on her radio programme, and it was a very organic and spontaneous process.

“I simply picked up my drum and put down a few chords, and from there the feelings and words started to come.

Welsh pipgorn

Ffion added: “I would love to perform these works. Currently I’m just a solo act, but I’d love to perform with a band, I’ve also really wanted to include the Welsh pipgorn in my music.

Especially with Yn Yr Afon, you can hear it, incredibly subtle at the beginning, but ideally collaborating with various instrumentalists would expand the power of these songs.

“I’m very interested in developing international partnerships, as Welsh language culture and music is really romanticised in certain parts of the world, I’m not sure how aware Welsh people are of this, and that we have the potential of really expanding our market.

“I was recently told that there’s a Welsh history, culture and language course in a university in Japan somewhere because they are obsessed with mythology and folklore.

“I have taiko drums in one of my tracks so if anyone has any contacts with bridging Welsh language arts in Japan haha I am absolutely open to that.

“However on a more local scale it’s very important to me to be able to connect with communities in wales, as I have often grown up feeling outside of the scene, and I think it would be a very beautiful thing to be able to establish stronger relationships now in my adult life with other Welsh artists and Welsh audiences.”

Blaen y Glyn

The video is a feast for the eyes, and its elemental nature was important to Ffion who said: “Myself and Ruslan Pilyarov a cinematographer that I have collaborated with several times, decided to set out on a little trek into Merthyr Tydfil.

“As the song is about bathing in a river I was adamant on finding a river to film originally, however I have a thing for high grounds, maybe because I’m a goat in astrology and I love mountains, I also love waterfalls.

“So we wandered into the trails leading to Blaen y Glyn hoping to find a body of water to bathe in.”

Ffion added, laughing: “I would have absolutely loved filming something at Pen y fan which was a little further on from where we filmed, however I was certainly getting over excited as 3 hours of hiking with camera equipment would have certainly produced a different kind of film -I was already exhausted just from the little trek up the hill we did and the intense prolonged cold water exposure.”

Honour, renewal and healing

The stirring track helped inspire the video, and repeated listens open the track up into something quite special. Ffion shared: “The video is quite symbolic and coded. I think in a very direct way it is certainly an honouring of homeland, but it is also a kind of renewing and purifying.

“I’m really playing and exploring with archetypes in this video, with the divine mother as the waters and the divine father as the mountains.

“Re-parenting ourselves in the healing presence of nature and giving birth to ourselfs again, somewhat changed and transformed.

“There are strong themes of Neptune, the watery planet of sublime and dreams, Pisces siren-calling waters and lunar prayers into total surrender. There is love, life & sacred mystery.”

Watch this space!

Yn yr Afon and Khalon are available on all streaming platforms now.

Discover more about Ffion Campbell-Davies’ multidisciplinary work at House of Absolute.