Bird Songs For Atomic Skies

Wales born, Brighton-based instrumentalist Gwenifer Raymond is a celebrated champion of the finger-picked guitar. She has drawn international acclaim for her repurposing of Mississippi blues and John Fahey’s intricate Americana to embody her roots in rural South Wales and her interests in folk horror and the avant garde, inventing a new form dubbed Welsh Primitive. Raymond is freshly signed to the Fat Possum record label and to mark the occasion has released a new single: “Bird Songs for Atomic Skies’ is a mutant rag, a blues gone awry. Lyrebirds are perched in irradiated nests and have grown new heads. Foxes bark in the night, but the barks are all wrong. This song is an assembly of sounds run through the wringer of an atomic age; New limbs are springing up by the hour.” says Gwenifer on the track. The release of Gwenifer Raymond’s third studio album Last Night I Heard the Dog Star Bark in September 2025 via Canadian label We Are Busy Bodies has seen a torrent of international recognition and exciting opportunities. Highlights amongst those include a Tiny Desk concert, KEXP session, events including Primavera Sound and the Newport Folk Festival, upcoming high profile tours with Geese, The Tallest Man On Earth and dates with Mitksi at venues like the Royal Albert Hall. This has culminated in the album being nominated for the 2026 Welsh Music Prize. A force of nature live, Raymond’s reputation has steadily built over the last ten years on the circuit having played with everyone from Michael Chapman to Richard Dawson to Lankum.