Lo-Fi Jones are analog prophets in a digital world on their smart, stylish and sophisticated new EP Bad Technology — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
Building on the success of their debut EP Llanast yn y Llofft, this multi-lingual six-track EP from the ambitious Welsh indie-folk quartet — whose instrumental lineup includes fiddle, accordion, sax and acoustic guitar — explore our relationship with technology, ego, obsession, self-doubt and the universal craving for escape. Despite the darkness and heaviness inherent in the subject matter, Bad Technology maintains an upbeat playfulness and existential joy throughout, refusing to take itself too seriously.
Influenced by the scarred beauty of the North Wales landscape where they were raised, songwriting brothers Liam and Siôn Rickard are part of a growing wave of emerging Welsh artists taking their language and culture beyond Wales’ borders. They use that contrast and contradiction in their craft, examining the yearning we all feel to belong and connect with our roots even as we seek to escape and transcend them. The musical journey that results is eclectic and — like the mountain roads of their homeland — takes some unexpected twists, navigating the fault lines between the folk, rock, and even synth-pop that they fuse into their impressive, intriguing and individual compositional hybrid.
Their lyrics, meanwhile, are forged by small-town angst in the foothills of Eryri. The bearded Rickard siblings and their bandmates weave tales of love and loss in with their ever-changing, shape-shifting sonic landscape. With lyrics in both Welsh and English, and their heady mix of folk, tragi-comic pop and indi-Gymreig, the group juxtapose moments of gentleness with surrealism, anarchy and a party vibe.
Lo-fi Jones’ achievements so include winning Battle of The Folk Bands at the National Eisteddfod (2023), performing in the final of Cân i Gymru (2023), Seswin Fawr Dolgellau (2023), The Swansea Fringe (2023), Behind The Barn Festival (2023), Folk On The Lawn (2023), Mari Lwyd cellebrations in Dinas Mawddwy (2023), Fire In The Mountain Festival (2022) and Gwyl Y Pethau Bychain (2022).
In 2022, they released Llanast Yn Y Llofft (translation: A Mess In The Bedroom). Most of the songs on the EP have been broadcast on BBC Radio Cymru, and several have been played on Radio Wales. Slag Heap from the EP was nominated for Best Original English Language Song at the Welsh Folk Awards 2023.
Listen to Bad Technology below, find it on your preferred streamer HERE, check out some of Lo-Fi Jones’ videos above, and tune into them on their website, Instagram and Facebook.
