A Chat with Ci Gofod (25.08.23)
The saying goes that all Welshmen can sing, and sing beautifully. I don’t know about that but so far every Welshman I have met has a soulful voice behind their beaming smiles. Ci Gofod (also known as Jack Thomas Davies) matches the complex Welsh language to harmonic melodies creating something obscure and exciting. We speak with Davies about his EP Wedi Codi, superpowers, future plans and more.
OSR: Cliché but what made you decide to pursue a career in music? What drew you to music, so to say?
Davies: Growing up, my dad played mouth organ and exclusively listened to 80s music. This led to me being a kid who would spend time learning Duran Duran songs on mouth organ. Eventually, as a teen, I started to pick up guitar and piano and this is when my love for music really flourished. I find it so hard to keep still or switch off so it was my escape. I played lead guitar in a few bands but it was only a few years ago at the age of 24 I started my own project as Ci Gofod.
OSR: What can you tell us about your EP Wedi Codi? Is there a backstory or theme?
Davies: The songs on Wedi Codi talk about feeling lost and then eventually finding purpose again. Ultimately though, the backstory is that it is a key point in my journey of learning Welsh. Born in Wales, I was frustrated that I couldn’t speak Welsh so took to songwriting to help learn the language. I am far from fluent and definitely still a learner, but Wedi Codi was a personal challenge to have a big release that was exclusively in the mother tongue.
OSR: What is your creative process?
Davies: For me, it’s always music first. A song often starts from a hum or gibberish I sing into a voice note on my phone and the rest follows. I find if I force myself into a song, it never quite works. As cheesy as it sounds, it comes in a moment and you have to capture that moment the best way you can, even if you’re miles away from your recording setup.
OSR: What was the best and worst thing about creating Wedi Codi?
Davies: I absolutely loved writing Wedi Codi and the process of putting together a fuller release was really fun, especially since all my prior releases were singles.
The worst part was that by the time I released it, the songs were around 2 years old. There was lots of stalling as there was talk of releasing on a label and everything fell through, which resulted in me just releasing it out of impatience without as much prep work as I’d like.
OSR: Do you think singing in Welsh adds uniqueness to your music? It’s not a particularly common language.
Davies: I like to think so. Welsh is a beautiful language and it deserves to be celebrated in any form possible. Not being fluent, I sometimes get intimidated when I’m in situations when I don’t fully understand what’s going on, but I am glad to be part of a community that is creating in the language and hope that others will follow suit.
OSR: If you could change one thing about Wedi Codi, what would it be?
Davies: I have always wanted a song where someone raps on a verse, there are some mellow tracks that would have suited another voice coming in and taking a few bars. That’s something I’m definitely looking at in the future.
OSR: Do you think Wedi Codi represents you as a person and where you are in defining your sound?
Davies: I’d say it does at the time of writing, I’m at the point now where I still love funk and disco but want to experiment with more house music and even acoustic stuff. Let’s see where things go.
OSR: Do you have any life experiences or musical background contributing to you as a musician?
Davies: Most of my friends and the people I surround myself with are musicians or at least have a massive interest in music, which is a massive help in me finding new bands and sounds. Like I allude to though, I was more or less brought up on 80s compilation cassettes so all of those tracks forever remain etched in my brain.
OSR: If you could have a superpower, what would it be and how would you use it?
Davies: As much as it would be cool to be like Spiderman and swing through cities, being invisible would be super cool.
OSR: Do you have any future plans for Ci Gofod?
Davies: I expect to release a single before the end of 2023 before a bigger release in 2024. Watch this space.
OSR: Do you have a message for our readers?
Davies: Support your local music scene!
Many thanks to Jack Thomas Davies for speaking with us! For more from Ci Gofod, check out his Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Spotify.
This artist was discovered via Musosoup #sustainablecurator
