Gwenno - Tresor (LP)

Gwenno’s third solo album, Tresor, arrived in July 2022 on Heavenly Recordings, and it still feels like a quiet revelation. Most of it is sung in Cornish, with one song in Welsh, and that choice does more than set a mood. It opens a door to a different way of listening. You stop hunting for literal meaning and start leaning into rhythm, texture, and the small shifts in her voice. The title means treasure, and the record earns it with slow-blooming songs that feel both intimate and dreamlike, like conversations overheard in a seaside church at dusk.

If you’ve followed Gwenno since The Pipettes, you already know how gracefully she’s moved from indie pop to a more exploratory, psych-folk palette. Tresor is the most patient version of that sound yet. It has soft-focus synths, lullaby harmonies, and drums that purr rather than punch. She recorded and shaped it with producer and longtime collaborator Rhys Edwards, and you can hear the trust in those arrangements. Nothing shouts. Songs breathe and unfold. A piano figure might linger a full minute before the bass glides in. When a flute or organ drifts across the mix, it feels like a tide change rather than a cameo.

“An Stevel Nowydh” was the song that hooked me first. The title translates to “The New Room,” and the track moves with a lovely, suspended pulse, voice stacked on voice, a bassline like a heartbeat. It is pop, but a very gentle kind, closer to Broadcast or Stereolab at their most meditative. The title track, “Tresor,” floats even lighter, a ribbon of organ and close-mic’d harmonies that make you lean toward the speakers. You don’t need to know Cornish to catch the mood. There’s shelter here. Even when the drums pick up, the feel stays hushed, like she’s singing to a sleeping child.

What makes the record special is how it balances that warmth with clarity. The production isn’t gauzy for the sake of it. Each instrument is placed carefully, and the low end is quietly rich. When people ask me why I care about Gwenno vinyl, I point to Tresor. On a turntable the air around her voice gets a little deeper, the organ has a roundness you can almost hold, and small details in the backing vocals bloom. If you’re crate-digging and spot Tresor vinyl next to Le Kov, do not hesitate. It’s a perfect late-night spin.

Tresor also carries a story that runs beyond sound. As with Le Kov, Gwenno uses Cornish not as a novelty but as a living, expressive language. The Mercury Prize judges seemed to hear that too; the album was shortlisted in 2022, which nudged a lot of new listeners toward a record sung in a language with only a few thousand speakers worldwide. It was a small cultural earthquake. The coverage in places like The Guardian and Pitchfork wasn’t just polite applause. Critics heard the craft, the strength of the melodies, and the way she draws out the emotional colors of a language many listeners had never encountered in pop music.

I keep coming back to how grounded this music feels. There are nods to folk and kosmische, but no retro cosplay. Percussion is hand-played and close, keyboards hum rather than sparkle, and the vocals are recorded with an intimacy that suggests a small room with soft lamps. It sounds like home, and it sounds like a place that has existed for centuries. There’s also an undercurrent of reflection about motherhood and inner life, themes Gwenno has talked about in interviews around the album’s release. You can hear that in the quiet confidence of the performances. Nothing strains for a hook, yet the hooks arrive anyway.

If you’re shopping for Gwenno albums on vinyl, start with Tresor and work backward, or double up if you can. I’ve seen copies pop up at my local Melbourne record store, and it’s often one of the first things I recommend when people ask what to try if they love Cate Le Bon, Fairport Convention’s gentler moments, or the softer side of psych. If you prefer to buy Gwenno records online, it’s an easy add to your cart and an ideal companion to a long evening. And if you’re in the habit of browsing vinyl records Australia shops for something that invites you to slow down, this is exactly that.

Tresor is quiet, but not slight. It’s rich with memory, rooted in place, and built with a care that rewards close listening. Put it on, let the language carry you, and see what surfaces. That’s the treasure.