Upcoming Releases
Cardiff-based Welsh language alternative rock six-piece, Breichiau Hir, are delighted to announce their return with second album Y Dwylo Uwchben (The Hands Above), set for release on 11th April 2025 via Halen Records.To celebrate the news, the band are sharing lead single ‘Cuddio Tu Ôl Y Llen’ (Hiding Behind The Curtain) which is released on 22nd January 2025 via all good digital service providers, and comes with an official music video by Michael McCann.
The single captures the inner struggle of vulnerability, strength, and the exhaustion that comes with fighting persistent internal and external conflicts. As such, ‘Cuddio Tu Ôl Y Llen’ represents a constant battle—a cycle of strength and weariness, where you might be caught between the desire to fight, or the fear to surrender.
Commenting on the track, front man Steffan Dafydd says: “I wanted to catch the complexities of resilience, where holding on and letting go both feel equally painful. We went away for a week to write our second album, and everything felt completely new, which brought about a sense of change and a new chapter, and that feeling came out in some of the songs, this being one of them.”
“When I started to write lyrics for this song, I wanted it to sound hopeful and positive. The music comes first and the lyrics come second, after I’ve let the mood of each song settle. I tend to write in a flow of consciousness to avoid pushing anything too much and making it feel forced, then I go to edit them to make sure it flows. When it came to looking over this one, I felt that it actually had a bit of that ‘light vs dark’ narrative, but felt uncertain about which side it was on.”
Combining the visceral and the vulnerable, Breichiau Hir have distinguished themselves within Cardiff’s vibrant music scene with their distinctive take on Welsh-language rock music. Their intense live shows invite catharsis through introspection and unbridled energy. Their ability to switch from explosive walls of sound to gossamer ostinato allow the band to resonate from the most intimate of venues to the festival stage.
2025 will see the release of a sophomore album that this time seeks to look to the future by contemplating predestination and individual agency—a series of orchestrations that question the script that has been written for you. Y Dwylo Uwchben promises to build upon Breichiau Hir’s reputation for authentic and personal songwriting, whilst delivering gritty hooks and expansive soundscapes.
The new album will be the first batch of new material from the sextet in 4 years, since the release of their Welsh Music Prize-nominated 2021 debut album Hir Oes I’r Cof, which delivered the resonant lyrics of a band reflecting on adulthood and its inherent antithesis to idealism. As if being forced forward by the currents of the river Taf, the album’s narrative reflects on the escapist power of nostalgia and the weight of expectation.
Launching their debut EP Mae’r Angerdd Yma Yn Troi In Gas in 2015, the band went on to release a string of standalone singles including ‘Mewn Darnau / Halen’ (2018), ‘Portread O Ddyn Yn Bwyta Ei Hun’ (2018), ‘Penblwydd Hapus Iawn’ (2019), ‘Yn Dawel Bach / Saethu Tri’ (2019), ‘Preseb O Ias’ (2020), and their cover of Bryn Fôn classic ‘Y Bardd O Montreal’ (2020).
This slow-drip of material bore fruit for the boys from Wales, with a wave of support both at home and beyond from Huw Stephens at BBC 6music, Daniel P Carter and Alyx Holcombe at BBC R1, KEXP, Adam Walton at BBC Radio Wales, NME, Rock Sound Magazine, Bandcamp Daily, BUZZ Magazine, God Is In The TV Zine, Planet Mosh, Punktastic, For The Rabbits, Circuit Sweet and more.
On the live side, they’ve kept busy building notoriety on the Welsh festival circuit with appearances at Green Man, Sŵn , FOCUS Wales, HUB Festival, The Swansea Fringe, supported The Joy Formidable, We Were Promised Jetpacks, and Single Mothers, and their track ‘Yn Dawel Bach’ was even used by FA Wales in their Euro 2020 hype videos.
