Interview: Folk star Mari Mathias releases new single under her own independent label

Amelia Jones

Welsh folk musician and Green Man Rising Star 2023 finalist Mari Mathias has released a new single rooted in myth, memory and the landscapes of west Wales. She talked with Nation Cymru about its influences, her Celtic connections, and the joy of releasing through her own music label.

The track, ‘Y Morgen,’ was released this week under her own Independent Label ‘Recordiau TARIAN Records’ together with a music video on YouTube.

Drawing on Welsh folklore and the imagery of the sea, the song reflects Mathias’ connection to place, heritage and storytelling. These are themes that have become central to her work as a contemporary folk artist.

Following the release, Mathias says the song reflects her long-standing interest in folklore, landscape and the emotional pull of the sea.

Her forthcoming album is set for release later this year and will be available on streaming platforms, as well as on vinyl and CD.

What does ‘Y Morgen’ mean to you personally?

‘Y Morgen’ feels very personal to me, coming from myth and folklore. It sits somewhere between story and memory. It connects me to the sea, to the landscapes I grew up around, and to the people who passed those stories down to me. It makes me think a lot about inherited memory in the land of Sir Benfro and how certain places or sounds can stir something in you that feels older than your own lifetime.

The idea of the Morgen, this sea-spirit presence, feels symbolic of that to me. She’s mysterious and powerful, but also tied to nature, to water, to emotion.

The song feels like a bridge for me, between land and sea, past and present, myth and lived experience. Every time I sing it, I feel like I’m stepping into that space a little bit, and inviting other people in too.

Why did you feel now was the right time to release this song?

We recorded the song last February, but I’d been developing this track with the band for about three years.

By the time we got into the studio, we were so ready after having all those years of developing it and the track had really grown with us. We were just itching to finally lay it down properly.

I also feel like it really reflects where I’m at in my songwriting  journey right now. I’ve been listening to a lot of artists like The Breath, Clannad, Fairport Convention, Jeff Buckley.

They are people who explore folk music with such expanding structures, melodies and instrumentation. They take traditional melodies and feelings and stretch them into something totally their own, but you can still feel the roots in it.

It also feels like a good moment culturally. There’s such a strong folk connection happening across the Celtic nations at the moment, and beyond, and I really want to be part of that: carrying our stories, showcasing Cymru, and celebrating the magic of our mother tongue.

Was there a specific place or moment that sparked the song?

I remember walking along the coast in Ceredigion one day, heading over towards Llangrannog. I saw something out in the sea, really far off, and I couldn’t quite make out what it was. It was probably a morlo (seal) , but there was this fog and haze that day that made everything feel a bit dreamlike and disorienting.

It got me thinking about how fishermen and sailors must have experienced the sea in the past, seeing shapes and movements they couldn’t explain. That brought me back to all the tales I grew up with about the coastline, stories passed down from my great-grandfather, Idris Mathias, and my father, Gwion Mathias.

They share so much knowledge and wisdom about the sea and the land. There were all these stories of people vanishing along the coast, taken by the tides… and of Y Morgen, the sea-born spirit who was said to have claimed them.

Did the song change much from its first version to the final recording?

I originally wrote it on my own, but I always knew I wanted to bring this one to the band.

I wanted to bring more storytelling into it, more spoken word elements that take you into that dreamy, fireside kind of space. That’s such a big part of how we share stories and poetry in Cymraeg, that sense of rhythm and voice carrying history, and I wanted the song to feel like that, like you’re being told an ancient lore.

When we finally recorded it in the studio, it grew again. Something about being near the coast and nestled in the Preseli Hills just added to the magic of it all.

How does the music video expand the world of ‘Y Morgen?’

Visually, I wanted everything to feel dreamlike, almost like a memory you’re trying to hold onto. A big part of it was reminding us that we’re not separate from nature. Our bodies are like the trees around us, responding to the wind, the air, the energy of a place.

It was more like the camera was just following me through a fairly normal day in the Preselis and down by the coast. And I think that’s why the video feels the way it does, it has that old sense about it, like a remembrance, or something half-remembered from a story or a dream.

What does releasing music on your own label mean to you?

It means a lot. Releasing music on my own label feels like taking real ownership of the work.

Doing it this way means I can let things grow naturally, trust my instincts, and release something when it genuinely feels ready.

At the heart of it, it just means I get to protect the spirit of the music. And that feels really important to me.

How does ‘Y Morgen’ sit alongside the rest of the upcoming album?

‘Y Morgen’ is one of my original songs on the album, but it still carries that folk–contemporary feeling that runs through the whole record. It feels like a landscape in itself, which is very much how I think about the album as a whole.

The record is a journey through different elements and places. But there are also really grounding moments too, more traditional-feeling folk songs and these organic spaces where everything softens and you can just rest in the sound with birdsong.

It feels really special to be sharing this whole body of work it in the spring. There’s something about this time of year, that sense of things opening and coming back to life that feels completely in tune with the energy of the album.

You can listen to ‘Y Morgen’ here.