Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci - Barafundle

For those who have even heard of Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci, it’s likely about how bizarre their music is (they write some songs in Welsh and discuss wizards, gnomes, et. al when singing in English; they openly admit eating magic mushrooms before recording sessions, as well). And while they may indeed be weird, they have recorded some of the most inscrutable, iconoclastic pop of the ninties, as best experienced on ‘Barafundle’. In fact, ‘Barafundle’ has tunes on top of its tunes. It frequently eases into the most stunning melody, only to scrap it after a few bars and pick up on another. Euros Childs has a fine voice (as do Megan and John, his primary backing vocalists) but they’re often pushed to their limits by the vast melodic and harmonic ranges these songs explore. One gets the feeling that the complexity of the arrangements is also being dictated by the ambition of the tunes (as if they needed Spanish guitar, violin, jew’s harp and 12 kinds of organ just to reach all the notes). “Patio Song” and “Heywood Lane” are impossibly catchy and wonderfully crafted for staying power. “The Barafundle Bumbler” and “Sometimes the Father Is the Son” are spectacularly evocative hymns to childhood. “Diamond Dew” is the perfect overture to a psych-pop symphony, and if it doesn’t drive Brian Wilson and Paul McCartney into a desperate collaboration, then someone’s not paying attention.

1. Diamond Dew
2. Barafundle Bumbler
3. Starmoonsun
4. Patio Song
5. Better Rooms
6. Heywood Lane
7. Pen Gwag Glas
8. Bola Bola
9. Cursed Coined And Crucified
10. Sometimes The Father Is The Son
11. Meirion Wyllt
12. Wizard And The Lizard
13. Miniature Kingdoms
14. Dark Night
15. Hwyl Fawr I Pawb
16. Wordless Song

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