RONA MAC is a truly independent, DIY, grassroots artist from the most Westerly tip of Wales, a prolific songwriter carving

her own pathway as a Welsh queer alt-folk artist.  Funded by PRS foundation, Help Musicians and Horizons Launchpad (Arts Council Wales), Rona’s upcoming album 'Honeymilk and Heavy Weather' is tenderly written about and for a lost friend.  For 3 years RONA has carved these 11 tracks out of love, grief and determination, pulling everything into alignment with what lies at its core. There is a dense and heavy story behind Honeymilk And Heavy Weather, intertwining themes of love, loss, mental illness and water.  RONA uses the sounds of fire, rivers, ocean and wind in tracks, as well as voice notes, spoken word and all manner of unusual and potent sounds.

 

Some of RONA’s personal highlights are plays on BBC Radio 1, BBC 6 Music and BBC Radio Wales, performing at the BBC Radio 6 Music Festival in Cardiff and being featured in Clash Magazine. She has recently supported Willy Mason, Bess Atwell and Katy J Pearson. 

 

‘Afon Cleddau’ is a bold song about love, friendships and grief.  It follows a succession of emotional singles: ‘Sense’, ‘Body’, ‘Links Like Fists’, ‘And Then They Found Her’, ‘Showmehowyoumourn’ and most recently September’s ‘Buttercup’.    

 

Of “Links Like Fists” Rona says, “Have you ever seen those chains hanging down at the harbour? Thick as fists, they are. Covered

in lichen and slime, hanging so heavy, so immovable and dead, determinedly pulling downward despite the salty westward gales ripping by. This song was written on a day where I waded down at the harbour, aching with depression and grief. It’s inspired by the chains, because they remind me of what it is just to exist, when ‘exist’ is all you can do. And in the likeness I found in those chains, with links like fists, I found a moment of peace.  Sonically, this track is inspired by Ben Howard's music in the album ‘I forget where we were’, based around an electric guitar riff with a solid delay. The lyrics are an absent minded conversation with late friends.

 

RONA’s album - HONEYMILK AND HEAVY WEATHER is an intensely personal record written about a friend who took her own life during the pandemic. Says RONA on the context and emotions of the LP”  I’d like you to see this album as a piece of fabric, woven from friendships, water, the edges of sanity and the place we call home. It’s an intimate journey through grief, love and life’s grittiest peripheries, and I’m blessed that you’re sharing in it with me. It’s written for Emily Victoria Hemingway, who took her life a few years ago. Throughout the album there are scattered recordings of voice notes and spoken word pieces that she sent me over the years, varying from her sing-song happy voice, to the deep chested voice of a woman carrying a world of pain. It was a big decision to share these with listeners, but in the context of the album as a whole it would feel incomplete without her husk in there. This album is also tied to some incredible friendships. We shared the very best and worst together and learnt about the furthest corners of platonic love and loss, as we have grieved many people in recent years. I have reached deeply into the veins of these shared feelings: the beauty in the light and the grime of the darkness; the rugged joy of fireside howling and swimming in your clothes; self-destruction and group repair; blurred lines of love and who cares anyway; an immeasurable amount of rawcus joy; of listening to sad songs together and feeling the weight lift. Here’s to all the many shades of blue Xxx   DOWNLOAD FULL ALBUM VIA DISCO HERE

 

RONA MAC is touring this album around 13 decentralised locations around the UK to move music away from big cities, as well as connecting with like-minded people before appearing at the Sonic City Festival in Belgium in November.

 

Airplay: John Kennedy, XPosure Daily, Radio X; Gemma Bradley, Radio 1 Introducing, R1 Chillest Show; BBCR1;  Huw Stephens, Emily Pilbeam, Tom Robinson, BBC 6 Music; BBC Radio Cymru, Ifan Sion Davies; Welsh A List - Playlisting - BBC Radio Wales, Lucy Owen (for Wynne Evans), Adam Walton, Bethan Elfyn, Huw Stephens; Islington Radio, Louise Schofield; BBC Norfolk, Introducing with Kitty Perrin.  Playlisting: Amazing Radio UK/USA C-List, Genre Streams; Easy Listening, Acoustic Moments, Best New Folk, Chill, Folk.  Spotify: Fresh Finds Folk; Lost In The Woods, The Most Beautiful Songs In The World, Indie Covers.  PRESS: Lock Magazine, Noctis Magazine, EARMILK, Vents, Music Crowns, CLASH.