Hen Ogledd announce second LP with lead cut "Trouble"

"Trouble" is the first outing from the quartet since their 2018 debut album Mogic.

Rhodri Davies told The Quietus of the album title, "We chose the title way before lockdown and we were open to the multiple interpretations of "free humans". Human life is freely exploited by other people. The "free humans" bit [on the track "Feral"] comes after the Karl Marx quote "everything that is solid melts into air". Free improv, free jazz, free humans... There were other connotations that we thought about. Obviously with everybody in lockdown across the world, it's an incredibly pertinent title, as if we'd thought about it in advance."

Richard Dawson adds, "Another important aspect of Free Humans, for me, is thinking about the time aspect. The record starts with a "Farewell" and there's a lot about approaching time from different angles. There are a lot of reversals on the record. So when I look at "free humans", I also see "human-free". Do you know The Vorrh by Brian Catling? It's an interesting book. I don't want to spoil it, and it's not a new idea, but it supposes that for the planet to survive then maybe humans aren't the most important aspect for it. It might – very well would – benefit the planet if we weren't here. So we were thinking about the possibility that there could be a slowly unfolding extinction event underway. We were also thinking about pre-humans as well. This idea of a world without people in."

Tracklist:

1. Farewell
2. Trouble
3. Earworm
4. Crimson Star
5. Kebran Gospel Gossip
6. Remains
7. Paul is 9ft Tall (Marsh Gas)
8. Space Golf
9. Time Party
10. The Loch Ness Monster’s Song
11. Flickering Lights
12. Bwganod
13. Feral
14. Skinny Dippers