Moletrap Released New Track ‘Middle Of The Land’

Mid Wales / Bristol based band Moletrap today release their striking and melodic new single ‘Middle Of The Land’ – The track resonates the bittersweet effect of lost dialect, and the effect that has on identity, it’s fragility and the importance of holding on to what remains.

The ‘Middle of the Land’ chorus was the last thing we wrote over a period of four years – a friend from one of our villages had told me about Radnorshire Welsh, a dialect, according to local legend last spoken by a widowed man living in a remote cottage on the edge of Cwm Elan and the Elenydd Uplands.

We requested a copy of his last interview, recorded before his death, from the national archives – eager to hear the lost lilt of local Welsh. We’re still waiting for it, and we may never hear it. How strange.

It’s bittersweet isn’t it, when a dialect dies, the loss reminds us of the fragility of identity and inspires us to double down on what remains. With that, we birthed ‘Middle of the Land’, a celebration of the area’s dogged grit and a promise to do what we can for, and in, the centre of Wales.

We’re three friends from three rural villages in Mid Wales. Our soon-to-be-released, frenetic rock album is us trying to capture the untamed and often overlooked centre of Wales, and an attempt to break the stereotype of Mid Wales as being a tranquil, quiet area. We always aim to sound like the Cambrian Mountains rumbling and crashing around.
 
We want to promote the Welsh language and connect people at our gigs to our area’s expansive, wild freedom. We sing, in Welsh and English, about the history, places, people, progress, nature and folklore in the area. Making and writing music from our cabin allows us to continue exploring our homes in the Green Desert of Wales – the least inhabited area in southern Britain.

The first two singles from the album are ‘Nation of Sanctuary’ – a celebration of Wales’ inclusive history and ambitions, and ‘Rhagofn’ (Welsh for ‘in case’ or for ‘without/lest there be fear’) – a reminder of how much more work there is to do. – said the band.