Grab an earful of the bewitching debut, Sorrows, from Scottish gothic doom outfit, Cwfen (pronounced “coven”). This female-fronted quartet—Agnes Alder (vocals/rhythm guitar), Guy DeNuit (lead guitar/backing vocals), Rös Ranquinn (drums), Mary Thomas Baker (bass)—has mined the sorrowful gloom of Type O Negative and swirled it together with some post-metal spaciousness and classic UK doom. Sorrows is at turns rage-filled, hypnotic and eternally dark. There’s a lot happening in a mere 10 tracks.
Sorrows was produced by Cwfen and Kevin Hare at Deep Storm Productions, and it was mastered by James Plotkin. It’s set for release on vinyl, CD and digitally on May 30 via New Heavy Sounds. Place your order here or here. Also, if you live in the UK, check out the upcoming live dates in June with L.A. doom trio Faetooth (listed below the Bandcamp player).
Vocalist/guitarist Agnes Alder had this to say about Sorrows:
“Sorrows comes from a place of contrasts. Feral and tender, expansive and restrained. Cwfen have always been drawn to that tension: melody and weight, beauty and collapse. That’s been shaped by our live performances, and an intensity and rawness that can easily disappear in the studio. Capturing that was important to us. There are elements of doom, post-metal, and shoegaze in it, but we never set out to write to a genre. We just followed what felt honest and this is what came out. The guitars are thick and textured, sometimes glacial, sometimes soaring, while the rhythm section gives the whole record its spine. Insistent, driving and deliberate, adding heft and weight. Vocals were recorded handheld and in motion, pacing, crouching, reaching, because singing never felt like a static act. It needed to move, to breathe, to unravel. There’s grief in this record, but also reverence, awe, and space. We weren’t aiming for perfection. We just wanted to make something that felt lived-in, emotionally true, and capable of holding quiet as much as noise. Something that leaves a mark.”
CWFEN Live dates with Faetooth:
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