Musicians from Machynlleth and Aberystwyth have composed songs in response to artwork at the National Library of Wales.

Machynlleth’s Liam and Siôn Rickard, who perform as folk-indie-pop band Lo-fi Jones, and genre-blending trio, Internet Fatigue from Aberystwyth, were approached earlier this year by the library and Welsh Government sponsored project CELF to explore the art collection and compose a song in response to an artwork of their choosing.

After looking at a huge number of artworks, two evocative paintings of the Welsh landscape captured their attention. Internet Fatigue made their track Heuldro’r Haf (featuring Holy Chords) in response to the Mary Lloyd Jones triptych Bryn Celli Ddu while Lo-Fi Jones chose Lisa Eurgain Taylor’s painting Bydd goleuni yn y hwyr to inspire their song of the same name.

Their ethereal bittersweet song evokes the hope and solace to be found in the landscape, even while it is under threat, while Internet Fatigue’s track explores the juxtaposition of young souls engaging with an ancient landscape in a track that mixes old and new sounds.

Liam and Siôn said: “We started the process by going into the National Library to look at some of the pieces of art in the collection and used our phones to take photos of the ones which caught our attention.

“Back home, we made a short list of the pieces we felt we could respond to instinctively, both musically and lyrically. We began composing several songs in response to different artworks from our shortlist. This was the third and final song we composed, and the one which we followed through to completion.

“‘Bydd Goleuni...’ is an incredibly striking painting, masterfully capturing Eryri’s familiar rugged landscape, while also conveying an ethereal, otherworldly quality. We feel it evokes a feeling of hope tinged with sadness.”

Internet Fatigue added: “We saw so many amazing artworks in the library’s collection, and it was really cool to be able to poke around behind the scenes.

“We were particularly taken by Mary Lloyd Jones’ 2007 triptych, Bryn Celli Ddu.

“The paintings are named after the Neolithic burial site on Anglesey which they abstractly depict.

“What struck [us] was how old sites like Bryn Celli Ddu are, yet how young all of us witnessing — or responding to it —are.

“The band is normally just the three of us, but for this we brought on Amy to play some accordion, which features in various ways all the way throughout the piece and helps give it more of an acoustic (and eerie) vibe than most of our songs.”

The sound of doors opening and painting rails sliding around the National Library feature in the song as percussive elements.

“Additionally, the “synth” sound in the final third of the song is derived from a really obnoxious sounding alarm in one of the Library’s vaults,” they added.

“Finally, we sampled Mary speaking about her work in a video uploaded to YouTube by the Mid Wales Arts Centre.”

Listen to Heuldro Haf and Bydd goleuni yn y hwyr on the CELF website - https://celfarycyd.wales/cynfas/article/2825/Heuldror-Haf-feat-Holy-Chords/