Welsh musician takes aim at music industry with ‘post-Brexit pop’ single

Nation.Cymru Staff

A Welsh musician who made her solo debut at Green Man Festival this summer has announced her first album alongside a new Welsh-language single taking aim at the pressures of the music industry.

Following the success of her first single Achub Yr Iaith, the debut album from musician, songwriter and producer GWEN, the new project from Gwenllian Anthony, will be released on 23 October 2026.

Anthony first came to prominence with Adwaith, the Carmarthen band who became the first group to win the Welsh Music Prize twice and helped shift perceptions of contemporary music in the Welsh language both within Wales and internationally.

The album marks a period of personal and creative reinvention for Anthony, reflecting her growing confidence in working independently and creating music on her own terms.

Alongside the announcement of UMA, GWEN has released a new single, POP!, driven by a commanding bassline, warped electronics and hypnotic rhythms.

“Restless, infectious and confrontational,” POP! was born from frustration with the music industry, the wider political moment and the pressure placed on artists to continually prove themselves.

Described in the lyrics as “post-Brexit pop” and “post-the-world-has-gone-to-shit-pop”, the frustration also carries particular weight for Anthony when creating in Cymraeg, a language often treated by the wider music industry as something requiring translation, explanation and compromise.

She explained: “POP! is a release of all the feelings that can bubble away working in the music industry. It’s putting up the middle finger to gatekeepers, to the close-minded industry folk, the grind that is expected from artists.

“But it also reflects on my dreams, what I want to achieve and what I’m willing to sacrifice to achieve those dreams.”

POP! begins with “Fuck that, I’m done”, but later Anthony sings: “Mae gen i freuddwyd / Syniadau Mawr / Manifesto / I adennill y wawr” / “I have a dream / Big ideas / Manifesto / To reclaim the dawn.”

The song closes with the old Welsh saying ‘Dyfal donc a dyr y garreg’, meaning ‘Constant tapping wears away the stone’, a proverb about persistence and the belief that even the hardest obstacle can eventually give way.

That battle between the impulse to walk away and the determination to continue, as well as the movement from self doubt to self belief, is one that runs throughout the UMA album.

After years of writing and creating collectively, most notably as a founding member of two-time Welsh Music Prize winners Adwaith, UMA is the first body of work she has written entirely alone.

Written while touring across Europe during the summer of 2025 and completed in West Wales with Tim Lewis (Coil, Spiritualized) and long-time collaborator Steff Pringle, the record became a process of creative reinvention.

Anthony explained: “The experience of writing and recording on my own really allowed me to be introspective and to learn a lot about myself.

“It allowed me to believe that I am capable, that I am creative and that I have something to say, and that I don’t need to rely on other people to create my vision. I have everything I need inside me.

“There were moments of self-doubt, feeling lost and fear, which are completely normal in creative practice, but overcoming these has really helped me grow as a musician, as a storyteller and as a person.”

The made-up word UMA was chosen because it carries no inherited meaning, and can therefore mean nothing and everything at once, allowing Anthony to define it entirely on her own terms.

The album draws inspiration from contrasting settings, ranging from European nightclubs to the coastline and mountains of west Wales.

Equally, the individual tracks move through a variety of themes including love, friendship, exhaustion, vulnerability, surrealism and escape. Some tracks draw on club culture, while others explore nature, intimacy and vulnerability.

What connects them is Anthony’s discovery that she can trust her own instincts without closing herself off from the people, places and communities around her.

She said: “The album reflects self-discovery, the discovery of confidence, discovery of being uncompromising. Writing the album on my own allowed my vision to be uncompromised, but outside of that I have learnt to be fearless and to believe and trust in myself in everyday life.

“The album is truthful, poignant, joyous and reflects all the emotions that life throws at you. It speaks of reinvention, finding yourself again after major changes, the trials and tribulations of the music industry, love, sadness and friendship.”

Musically, UMA draws from the physicality and repetition of post-punk and industrial music alongside the possibilities of electronic pop.

Though there are traces of Kim Gordon and Lizzy Mercier Descloux, CAN, Björk, Tricky, Massive Attack, and Nine Inch Nails, the result feels distinctly GWEN.

Commanding basslines, minimalist electronics, and hypnotic rhythms are combined with emotionally direct songwriting with Cymraeg at its centre.

That private process became public for the first time this summer when GWEN stepped onto the stage at Green Man Festival for her debut solo performance, playing UMA in full.

Listen to POP! and GWEN’s previous singles here. UMA will be released on 23 October 2026 via Libertino Records.

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