If 2024's Megaliths allowed Llyn Y Cwn to give these mysterious stone circles a voice, 2025's reworking, Megaliths In Dub, has given them motion. Reworking his field recordings to unlock the hidden beats within, this alternative view of the magic and mystery of prehistoric stone circles furthers our fascination and exposes even more of this unseen and unknown world. Obviously, these sounds are more manipulated than the original sources for Megaliths, but the re-interpretation adds another dimension to the enigma, another view, and a different retelling of the story. While Megaliths plays like grim epic poems recalling the past, Megaliths In Dub is like the graphic novel, quickly moving, charged up, and repackaged for those looking for an alternative experience.
Megaliths was monumental in source, inspiration, and sound, so following that up with a reworking of source material is pretty risky. However, Llyn Y Cwn keeps his hands inside the vehicle and takes the listener on a tightly guided foray through the hidden tones and textures from the previous release. Eschewing the option to take flight with his dub and head into uncharted areas, Megaliths In Dub remains restrained and respectful to not only the album but to the stone structures and their long, storied pasts. Oscillations and pulses become beats and bass lines, letting the song of the stones evolve into their dance, with sweeping layers keeping the locus, windy plateaus and craggy outcroppings remain in the listener's mind. Conversely, the distorted rhythms give rise to an industrial feeling, far removed from the past and bucolic countryside, but serve as a counterpoint to a terrible fate that may have befallen these sacred sites (and thankfully has not come to pass). Pairing Megaliths with its dub partner, one is able to hear Llyn Y Cwn's presentation of the past, present, and future of these locations, through recording, reworking, and interpretation. If it wasn't obvious from the above, the beauty of Megaliths In Dub lies in its subtlety and organic construction. Instead of coercing a rhythm or pattern from the lithic loggins, Llyn Y Cwn lets the current flow and coaxes the inner movement from these long-dormant features. Spread over eight tracks with varying styles, structures, and intensities, Megaliths In Dub is a very worthy companion to the 2024 release and gives the world an alternative look at what is going on beneath the surface.
As the structures of the Earth inevitably erode, plates collide, or morph through various other natural phenomena, what was once hidden is exposed and becomes the new face shown to the world. That takes time, however, on a scale none of us can wait to witness, but thankfully, there are other options. Bringing the inside to the outside, Megaliths showed us the past and present of these ancient, stone sanctuaries, and bringing it a step further, Megaliths In Dub shows us a look at one possible future. Energetic but restrained, this companion piece to Llyn Y Cwn's 2024 album utilises the same source material to help listeners to understand what's really going on under their feet
