Georgia Ruth + Jodie Marie

Georgia Ruth has long been a distinctive voice in Welsh music. Writing and
performing in both Welsh and English, she has built a reputation for crafting
emotionally rich, atmospheric work that draws on landscape, memory, and identity.
Her previous albums have earned critical acclaim and multiple award nominations,
establishing her as one of Wales’ most compelling contemporary artists. Her debut
album – Week of Pines – won the Welsh Music Prize in 2013, and was nominated
for two BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Since then, she has collaborated with artists such
as the Manic Street Preachers (on their Futurology album – which reached #2 in the
Official UK Charts) and has appeared on Radio 4’s Loose Ends, as well on festival
stages at Green Man, Other Voices, Glastonbury and more. Her music has been
championed by Cerys Matthews, Huw Stephens, Steve Lamacq, Bob Harris.
Elizabeth Alker and Mark Radcliffe.
On her fifth album, she invites you to join her in Uncanny Valley, where the familiar
begins to feel strange, and home comforts are shadowed by unease.
The record is rooted in her own house, following a move from Aberystwyth to a quiet
suburban area on the rural outskirts. Reflecting on this newfound suburbia, Georgia
explores the tension between domestic comfort and a wider sense of political and
emotional instability. As a mother of three, she captures this duality with clarity,
tracing the fragile balance between safety and fear.
Alt-country ballads sit alongside the chamber pop of the title track, showing a new
dimension to the songwriter’s work. Inspired by the films and television shows of the
early 00s (American Beauty, Mulholland Drive, Ally McBeal) - and a late arrival,
‘twenty years too late’ to The Sopranos (which she found herself devouring whilst
pregnant with her third child) – the album is both cinematic and nostalgic.
The house itself becomes central to the songs. Retaining the original décor of its
previous owners, it exists as a kind of time warp, both comforting and disquieting.
This setting shapes the album’s lyrics (strange details lurking in the cushions, the
carpets, in the roses growing outside the door) and in its visual world; Abby
Poulson’s photographs, taken in the house, create a subtle, Lynchian atmosphere
where the ordinary feels quietly surreal. The mysterious red kite – native to mid
Wales – is a spectral presence throughout the record, hanging above the housing
estate like an omen. As the album closes, though, the final words - ‘I can see the
stars here’ - linger, leaving a quiet sense of peace.
Returning to Sain studios in North Wales, Georgia reunited with the band who
appear on 2024’s Cool Head – Gruff Ab Arwel (who arranged the strings for that
album) takes up synth and keyboard duties, whilst Gavin Fitzjohn (Paolo Nutini,
Manic Street Preachers) added horn arrangements in Cardiff. Georgia’s children –
Owen, Idris and Alma – also feature on the album, singing on ‘Thema Alma’ – an
improvised lullaby at the heart of the record.

Produced by Georgia with long-time collaborator Iwan Morgan, the album was
mixed by TJ Allen (Bat for Lashes, Portishead, Anna Calvi) who brings a distinctive
shimmer to the songs. It was mastered by John McLaggan at Parachute Mastering
in Canada.

“rich with sweet pain and joy” – The Independent
“full of longing and melody” – MOJO
“utterly transfixing” – Adam Walton, BBC Radio Wales