Llyn Y Cwn

Isolationist dark ambient project Llyn y Cwn ("Lake of the Dogs") is the brainchild of Welsh producer Benjamin Ian Powell. After recording for more than 20 years under a variety of aliases, he scored the biggest success of his career when he was signed by cult label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Cold+Spring%22">Cold Spring</a> for his 2019 album Twll Du.

Born in North Wales, Powell began making music in 1998 under the name <a href="spotify:artist:55fNrir5sdB4qF1IF0r50a">Mank</a>, selling handmade CD-Rs online through his own <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Manky+Music%22">Manky Music</a> label. His work as <a href="spotify:artist:55fNrir5sdB4qF1IF0r50a">Mank</a> -- stretching to more than ten albums -- combined soothing ambient drones and new age melodies with crunchy IDM beats. He also recorded two albums as part of the experimental trio Micrographia. In his day job he was an electronics technician for the School of Ocean Sciences at Bangor University, a profession that took him on long sea voyages into the Arctic, and he spent as much of his spare time as he could among the mountains of his North Wales home. In both locations, he was awed and inspired by nature and took field recordings that made their way into his music.

In 2009, while continuing with the <a href="spotify:artist:55fNrir5sdB4qF1IF0r50a">Mank</a> project, Powell launched Llyn y Cwn, named for a remote lake high in the Glyder Mountains of Snowdonia. The music he recorded under this name had a much colder, dark ambient sound. A series of numbered EPs and albums culminated in the release of his most accomplished album to date, Twll Du ("Black Hole"), named for a forbidding rocky cleft in the cliffs near the lake. Initially self-released, the album was picked up by cult label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Cold+Spring%22">Cold Spring</a> for re-release in 2019, bringing Powell to an even bigger audience. ~ John D. Buchanan, Rovi