Rhodri Brooks' "Tynnu Gwaed" could easily be a theme song for a '70s cop show

Having spent the past couple of years touring with Novo Amor and Meilyr Jones, Rhodri Brooks has returned with his first single since his 2018 Welsh Music Prize-nominated album Pontvane.

"Tynnu Gwaed" has a bold swagger to it. The beat is simple, but teamed with the plucky bassline, woozy guitar riffs and scaling piano melodies, the track evolves into a foreboding, fictitous cop show theme song.

Brooks' soft vocal delivery adds to the menacing feel of the track, but before long "Tynnu Gwaed" introduces some sax, which transports the listener to a bizarre Starsky & Hutch meets Life On Mars meets Taggart cop world.

The beat and Brooks' vocals continue the foreboding feel of the track, like he's searching for a criminal in a restless and raining city, viewed from the windows of a smoke-filled Ford Fairmont.

Discussing his new single, Brooks says, "The song started out as a bass riff and a drum beat I’d been playing around with for ages, thinking it sounded like a soundtrack to a fake '70s moody cop show. I’d been listening to a lot of David Axelrod and various Library Music compilations and really wanted to make something that had a real film noir night time driving mood to it."

On the recording process and collaborators, Brooks adds, "I had a bunch of songs I wanted to try recording properly in a studio, so asked mates Davey and Sam from Boy Azooga if they could play drums and bass for a few tracks. We recorded round our friend Tom’s studio, who is the frontman of Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard. This song was just a quick, sort of throwaway jam right at the end of the session, nothing more than a riff really. Then I recorded some piano round my friend Ed Tullet’s (Novo Amor collaborator) house, and guitars, extra keys etc and vocals at home. It soon had turned into a whole different sort of thing, but I’m very happy with where it’s gone!"

Brooks also enlisted the help of Sweet Baboo, aka Steven Black, to play clarinet and saxophone on the recordings they made to "ramp up the ‘cop show’ vibes".