Tristwch Y Fenywod is a band of three queer women who play avant garde Gothic rock using folk, rock, and digital instruments, with lyrics sung entirely in the Welsh language (Cymraeg). Sapphic love and desire, existential darkness, political and environmental anguish/celebration, psychogeographic romance, pagan mysticism, imaginal explorations of Celtic history and myth, psychedelia, and myriad other variations of reverie are conjured through the music of Tristwch Y Fenywod. They were formed in 2022 in Leeds, which is where the band is primarily based.
Drawing richly from themes of sapphic love, environmental anguish, Celtic myth, queer enchantment, and pagan mysticism, their songs feel like “black-lit liturgies of bog bodies caked in mud,” entwined with nocturnal landscapes and queer longing Black Circle RecordsThe Guardianlostmusicfestival.com. The trio comprises Gwretsien Ferch Lisbeth (voice, dwydelyn), Leila Lygad (electronic drums), and Sidni Sarffwraig (bass guitar), who formed the group in 2022 following experiences of grief and collective ritual.
Their self titled debut album, released in August 2024 via Night School Records, was recorded at Bradford’s Hohm Studio and mastered by Rashad Becker. Critics have hailed it as a chilling yet luminous fusion of Celtic darkwave, goth, and experimental folk — “like an early 4AD relic dredged from the depths of an Anglesey swamp.” Echoes of Dead Can Dance, Cocteau Twins, and The Cure drift through its spectral textures, forming a sound that feels both ancient and eerily new.
