Tapestri are a folky duo of female singer-songwriters Lowri Evans and Sarah Zyborska who, as solo artists, have earned a following by singing in Welsh and English.
Their debut album is an easy going collection of melodic songs told from a woman’s perspective.
Despite the strong vocal harmonies, the subject matter is not always as congenial as it first appears. In the title track they sing of tenderness and mutual affection but also of a loss of self-identity in a claustrophobic relationship.
Similarly, in Save Your Love they sing “You want something more than I can give.” while the need for healing is deemed as essential in Crazy Crazy Times.
The personal songs are, by way of contrast, full of unambiguous consolation and love, She’s a Lover is warmly dedicated to Evans’s mother and the doting Genes is inspired by Zyborska’s daughter.
Patience as a virtue is the thrust of Waiting in the Background while Come Alive expresses the relief of surviving the constraints of the pandemic.
Writing and performing music in Welsh is important to the duo but they include only two songs in their native tongue: Y Fflam (Open Flame) and Atgofion (Sweet Memories). The latter is about ”the bittersweet feeling of ‘hiraeth’ (longing) and being far from home.”
Homely, is actually a word that best describes the album as a whole even though mellifluous tones sometimes give a deceptively glossy surface to less comforting emotions.
