Ym mis Ebrill, mi nes i rhyddhau albym newydd, sef Stuck in Belgium // In April, I released a new album, Stuck in Belgium. 

Dyma hi / here it is!

I will share some behind the scenes photos and write a bit about it... in the meantime, here's the press release I wrote:

Worldwide Welshman – Stuck in Belgium – Press Release - May 2025
 
Worldwide Welshman is the alias of Liam Rickard, Machynlleth-based singer-songwriter and artist, originally from North Wales. Over the past ten years, Worldwide Welshman and his ever-evolving band have been entertaining audiences in cafés, clubs, pubs, festivals, community gardens, canal boats, pirate ships, squats, living rooms and pavements across the UK, Europe and beyond with their multi-lingual mix of tragi-comic folk pop ballads, party bangers, improvisations, Welsh & international folk, and dark comedy. Worldwide Welshman’s performances touch upon a wide diversity of themes from face-cream to climate change to space tourism, and his music has been featured on Fresh on the Net, and played on Radio Dyfi, Resonance FM, Radio Cymru, and maybe even on 6 Music (at least once??). 

“Stuck in Belgium” is Worldwide Welshman’s first full length studio album. Most of the songs in this collection were written between 2018 and 2023 in London, Ghent, Brussels, Edinburgh and Machynlleth, except for "Waltz with me Darling" (2014, Betws-y-coed) and "Streaker" (2007, Betws-y-coed). In 2015, Rickard moved to London and lived there for 4 and half years. Rickard formed the band Worldwide Welshman & Beyond out of the jamming scene of East London. “Special cream” is one of the songs from this period, made-up in a garden at a house party in North-East London. Another song from this period is “Ble Mae Fy Nghalon i?” which was written with fellow Welsh person in London, Ffion Aynsley.

Worldwide Welshman has collaborated with musicians from all over the world and has participated in many international folk music camps.  The first such camp he attended was the 2016 edition of Ethno England which happened in Oxford. Here, he made friends with Jonas Malfliet, an accordion player and jazz pianist from Ghent, Belgium (Jonas is playing piano on track 2). Through this connection, he visited Ghent and met Jonas’s crew of lovely and talented musicians. They went on to play many gigs together. Rickard composed a number of songs in Belgium, many of which feature on this album. The title of the album comes from the song "See You After Quarantine" (track 2) which was composed in Brussels with Estonian singer Hannelore Karmel, the day after Belgium went into lockdown.

“Stuck in Belgium” was recorded in Our Lady Studio, Borth, except "See You After Quarantine" which was recorded in Ghent, and "Goldfish", recorded in Cardiff and Ghent.

Dyma fideo bach o'r berfformiad.

Here's a little video of our performance.

Y canneuon / the songs: Community Garden, Waltz With Me Darling, Christmas in Yiwu, Beard and a Poncho.

My new single "Retrofit" is out today on all streaming platforms! It was written after a conversation I had in the pub with a coursemate about the seemingly never-ending eco-renovation project that she and her husband were undertaking to improve the energy efficiency of their flat.
 
As you must have noticed if you live in the UK, our housing stock is generally pretty shoddy and inefficient. As well as being wasteful, cold and damp houses seriously effect people's health and quality of life. Also, existing buildings are responsible for about 27% of annual global CO2 emissions (and rising), according to the International Energy Agency (2022). That's due to heating, cooling, lighting, appliances, etc. That percentage goes up to around 37% if you include the emissions due to construction (cement, steel, glass, PIR, transportation, heavy machinery, etc) (UNEP, 2022) (or 42% for the built environment as a whole, according to Architecture2023, 2023).
 
The UK government would save a lot of money elsewhere (most obviously in the NHS) if they would take this problem seriously and invest in the training and resources required to retrofit the UK housing stock (UPDATE: check out the Welsh government's optimised retrofit programme). This seems like a fairly no-brainer way to reduce our CO2 emissions. It’s not simple; it requires time, investment, people, training schemes, sustainably sourced materials and supply chains. There isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ solution, because there are many different housing typologies, so different strategies are appropriate for different building types, and this varies from place to place. But it’s very much achievable, and there’s loads of research showing us how to do it, using environmentally benign materials. We just need investment and regulations to make this happen (that's easy to say in a sweeping statement, but challenging to implement in real life).
 
The track was recorded by Mike West in Our Lady Studio, Borth. and features excellent musicians from Wales, England, Brittany, Nigeria and Nicaragua. Go to your preferred streaming service now to listen to the whole song! This song is the first single from a batch of songs I recorded in Mike West's studio last August with Ffion River Wild, Michael Ekeghasi, Archibald Schwartz Marmaduke, Rolando Bertrand Ruiz, Ben MacCoed and David Spivack. Between us, we speak 8 languages, and we come from 5 countries, and 3 continents. I've got a few more to record after my dissertation. I hope to share the album with you in October!

In other news, next week I'm going to the Pan Celtic Festival with my other band, Lo-fi Jones! Our latest single "Ffwl" will be out on April the 1st, with "Llethrau" to follow, and at EP coming in July.

The video isn't quite ready. As with a retrofit project, its taking longer than I expected.
In the meantime, here's a little "teaser trailer":

[English below]
Haf diwethaf, es i ar y rhaglen cerdded boblogaidd, Am Dro! Cafodd y rhaglen ei ddarlledu wythnos ynôl ar S4C. Roedd o'n bleser i gyfarfod pawb ac i gymryd rhan yn y rhaglen. Cawsom ni teithiau braf a diddorol yn Llangollen, Llyn Ogwen, Machynlleth a Sir Benfro, gyda hanes, natur, cerddoriaeth a chwmni da. Fedrwch chi wylio'r rhaglen ar clic neu iPlayer. Dwi'n meddwl ma' rhaid i chi fod yn y Deyrnas Unedig i'w wylio.
***
Last summer, I took part in popular Welsh walking show, Am Dro ("for a walk"). It was broadcast last week on S4C. It was a great pleasure to take part and to meetmy fellow contestants and the TV crew. We had a facinating history-filled and sunny walk in Llangollen, a dramatic and atmospheric stroll around Llyn Ogwen near where I grew up, a drizzly musical amble along the Glyndwr Way above Machynlleth, and an amazing coastal nature walk near St Davids. You can watch it on clic or BBC iPlayer. I think you have to be in the UK to watch it.

[English below]
Os rydach chi wedi bod i gig Worldwide Welshman yn ddiweddar, mae'n debyg y byddwch chi wedi clywed fy nghân newydd, "Retrofit". Sgwennais i'r gân yn reit gyflym un prynhawn ym mis Ebrill llynedd, ar ôl sgwrs yn y dafarn y noson cynt efo coursemate am y prosiect adnewyddu/ôl-osod tŷ roedd hi a'i ŵr yn gwneud i wella'r effeithlonrwydd ynni yn eu cartref newydd. Perfformiais i'r gân am y tro cyntaf yn Ganolfan y Dechnoleg Amgen ym mis Mai o flaen fy nghyd-fyfyrwyr a thiwtoriaid. Ers hynny, dwi 'di perfformio'r gân ym Machynlleth, Aberystwyth, Bala, Gaerdydd, Llundain, Lancaster, Gaeredin, Treehouse Festival, Behind the Barn Festival, Festival of Jim, Worthy Earth festival ac ar alwad zoom gyda gweithredwyr amgycheddol yn India! Dwi'n falch i ddweud fod y cân yn mynd lawr yn dda tŷ allan i'n swigod ni.

Yn gyffredinol, mae'r stoc tai yn y D.U.. yn eithaf gwael. Cafodd lot i dai ei hadeiladu i ddibynni ar danwyddau ffosil rhad, ac mae nifer fawr o bobl yn byw mewn tai oer a llaith.
Fedrwn ni wella'r effeithlonrwydd ynni ein tai, a lleihau ein 'carbon footprint' trwy wella'r 'airtightness' (yn ogystal â strategaeth awyru) ac inswleiddio gyda deunyddiau 'breathable'. Yn iaith adeiladwyr a phenseiri, rydan ni'n defnyddio'r gair 'retrofit', neu 'ôl-osod' yn y Gymraeg (ond efallai mai'r geiriau 'adnewid' ac 'addasu' yn neud mwy o synnwyr). Dylid gwneud yr addasiadau gyda deunyddiau cynaliadwy sydd efo effaith isel ar yr amgylchedd cymaint â phosib, neu rydan ni jest yn wneud y broblem o'r newid hinsawdd yn waeth.

Mae'r gân "Retrofit" yn ceisio cynyddu dealltwriaeth am ôl-osod/adnewid ein hadeiladau, y "green transition" a'r economi gylchol. Roedd y fersiwn gwreiddiol yn ffocysu ar stori un teulu yn ôl-osod/adnewidio eu gartref, ond mi ychwanegais ragor o benillion i'r gân ar ôl i fi mynd i digwyddiad cyffroes o'r enw "Retrofit Reimagined" yn CyDA ym mis Hydref. Mae'r penillion newydd yn sôn am drawsnewid y gymdeithas ar y cyfan.

Dwi'n astudio am radd meistr mewn adeiladu cynaliadwy (Green Building) yn Ganolfan Y Dechnoleg Amgen (CAT) ym Machynlleth, a rhywsut dwi wedi lwyddo i adeiladu fy nhraethawd hir o gwmpas y cân hon (roeddwn i'n disgwyl i ysgrifennu "a plan for the efficient retrofit of a typical Welsh terrace" neu "The effectiveness of straw-clay as a low-embodied energy, affordable DIY insulation & airtightness solution" neu rywbeth fel 'na)! Yn fy nhraethawd hir, dwi'n ymchwilio sut gallai cerddoriaeth, chelf a chomedi cael ei ddefnyddio i rannu syniadau trawsnewidiol gyda chymaint o bobl a phosib, ac i gynyddu ymwybyddiaeth am rhai o'r atebion i'n problemau amgylcheddol a chymdeithasol. Dwi'n gobeithio bydd yr ymchwil hon yn ddefnyddiol i gyfansoddwyr, artistiaid a chyfathrebwyr gwyddoniaeth eraill.

Dwi'n bwriadu rhyddhau'r gân ar ym mis Mawrth. Hwn bydd y sengl gyntaf oddi wrth fy albwm newydd sydd ar y gweill. Bydd yr albwm yn dod allan ym mis Hydref 'swn i'n meddwl (ond mae'n anodd gwybod ar hyn o bryd achos mae gwaith ar yr albwm ar-hold rywfaint tan i fi gorffen y dissertation, ac mae fy mrawd a finnau wrthi'n giggio ac yn rhyddhau pethau efo Lo-fi Jones hefyd, felly mae'n gyfnod prysur!).

Dwi wedi rhoi y geiriau i fyny ar y wefan hon yn barod! A gan bod chi wedi ddarganfod y tudalen, mae gen i spesial treat i chi...mae 'na linc preifat ar gwaelod y tudaln i ffrydio'r gân ar Soundcloud: https://worldwidewelshman.weebly.com/retrofit-2023.html

Croeso mawr i chi rhannu'r cân gyda'ch ffrindiau, neu i wneud 'cover' o'r gân!

****

If you've been to a Worldwide Welshman gig lately, then it's likely you'll have heard my new song, "Retrofit". I wrote this song very quickly one afternoon in April last year after a chat in the pub the night before with my coursemate about the never-ending deep-retrofit project that she and her husband had underway to improve the energy efficiency of their flat in London. I wrote the song orignally with my coursemates in mind (Green Building and architecute students), and performed it for the first time at the Centre for Alternative Technology in May. Since then, I performed the song in Machynlleth, Aberystwyth, Bala, Cardiff, London, Lancaster, Edinbrugh, Treehouse Festival, Behind the Barn Festival, Festival of Jim, Worthy Earth festival and in a call with environmental activists in India. I'm glad to say that the song goes down well outside the bubble.

In general, the UK housing stock shockingly bad in comparison with some neighbouring countries. Many houses were built to rely on cheap fossil fuel energy, and people are living in cold and damp conditions. We could massively reduce the operational carbon footprint of our buildings by improving their energy efficiency i.e. improving airtightness coupled with an appropriate ventilation strategy, and the addition of vapour-permeable (breathable) insulation. In built environment lexicon, this is known as “retrofitting”. This should be done using sustainable materials with low embodied energy as much as possible.

The retrofit song addresses the challenges of retrofitting buildings, the need for a green transition, and the circular economy, amongst other things. The first iteration the song focused mostly on one family's retrofitting challenges, but after attending an inspiring, informative and exciting event called "Retrofit Reimagined" at CAT in October, I added a few more verses which talk about retrofitting/transforming/re-imagining society as a whole.

I'm studying a master's in Green Building at CAT, and I somehow managed to build my dissertation around this song (I was expecting to do something technical such as "A plan for the efficient retrofit of a typical Welsh terrace" or "The effectiveness of straw-clay as a low embodied energy, affordable, DIY insulation & airtightness solution")! In my dissertation, I'm looking into how  music, art and comedy can be used to share transformational ideas with as many people as possible, and to increase awareness about some of the potential solutions to the environmental and social problems facing humanity. I hope this research can also be of use to other songwriters, filmmakers, writers and artists.

I hope to release the song in March. It will be the first single from the studio album which I'm currently working on. I hope to share the album with you in October, but its hard to know because its on hold at the moment somewhat until I finish my dissertation. On top of these things, I'm gigging a lot and planning releases with my other band, Lo-fi Jones, so its a busy time!

I've put the lyrics and chords up on this website already, and since you found your way here, I have a treat for you! There's a private link to the song on Soundcloud at the bottom of the page: https://worldwidewelshman.weebly.com/retrofit-2023.html

Please share the song with your friends, and cover it if you like. Here are the lyrics and chords!

GIGS
Bydd gig ola'r blwyddyn yn digwydd yn y Bank Vault, Aberystwyth ar nos Sadwrn! dewch draw.
***
My last Worldwide Welshman gig of the year will happen this Saturday in the Bank Vaults, Aberystwyth. Come on down!