Wasteland: Vinyl LP

Wasteland is a record that is unafraid to plunge into the darkness of the modern world and embrace the weirder, edgier and more unnerving moments that come from doing so. It is an album that captures all the enormity of life from the micro to the macro, zooming in on the personal as well reflec\ng on broader societal issues. “Wasteland is about the idea of a place once known or familiar that is now broken down and unrecognisable,” says Ghedi. “It’s about exploring the process of watching

someone’s surroundings and environment collapse.” And within that you have a lot going on. “It also explores death, personal loss, grief, mental health and how the natural world provides solace and meaning for that loss and how these worlds blur into one another.”

Ghedi has always been an ar\st that in many ways perfectly encompasses folk music in its purest form but he is also someone that frequently pushes the boundaries of that label and no more so is that apparent than on this record. As like previous albums, such as 2018’s A Hymn for Ancient Land and 2021’s In the Furrows of Common Place, Ghedi uses tradi\onal folk songs as a means to explore contemporary issues via modern and experimentally-leaning music. “With the tradi\onal material on this album I wanted to find songs with content that resonated with me,” says Ghedi. “But also that were based roughly around the north of England.” This is a central underlying theme to the album for Ghedi. The feelings of loss, erosion, and degrada\on are osen most pronounced in working class communi\es and this was something he wanted to weave in. “It was important to voice and choose material that represented or expressed issues that correlated with things going on around me.”

However, as remarkable as some of the tradi\onal material is, some of the most arres\ng work on the album is Ghedi’s en\rely original composi\ons. Lead single ‘Wasteland’ is a stunning piece of work that while rooted in an environment being corrupted and broken – “there’s violence on these hills” Ghedi sorrowfully sings, before claiming this is no longer somewhere that can be called home – it is also a s\rringly beau\ful composi\on that soars and glides as it opens up, as sweeping strings swoop and in and out of Ghedi’s twangy electric guitar.

The decision to incorporate more fuller sounds, such as electric guitar and huge drums, results in a notable shis and evolu\on in tone for Ghedi. “The lyrical content needed something more band-driven and loud to deliver them,” he explains. “Incorpora\ng the electric guitar in my songwri\ng was also a big part of opening the sound up, using drop tunings pushed me to use my voice in a wider range, which forced me to use falseBo a lot which I haven’t previously done before. That then opened the sound up and gave me crea\ve ideas for bigger arrangements and to sonically really push things.”

What Ghedi has done in crea\ng his masterpiece is construct a remarkable space where deeply in\mate and personal feelings coexist with reflec\ons on environment, place and society, while also interweaving historical context via tradi\onal songs. Wasteland is as much of a world to explore and exist in as much as it is an album, with Ghedi carving out his dis\nctly unique sonic language and voice to explore that singular environment.