Uncanny Valley

Georgia Ruth has long been a distinctive voice in Welsh music. Writing and performing in both Welsh and English, she has built a reputation for crafting emotionally rich, atmospheric work that draws on landscape, memory, and identity. Her previous albums have earned critical acclaim and multiple award nominations, establishing her as one of Wales’ most compelling contemporary artists. 

On her fifth album, she invites you to join her in Uncanny Valley, where the familiar begins to feel strange, and home comforts are shadowed by unease.

The record is rooted in her own house, following a move from Aberystwyth to a quiet suburban area on the rural outskirts. Reflecting on this newfound suburbia, Georgia explores the tension between domestic comfort and a wider sense of political and emotional instability. As a mother of three, she captures this duality with clarity, tracing the fragile balance between safety and fear. 

Alt-country ballads sit alongside the chamber pop of the title track, showing a new dimension to the songwriter’s work. Inspired by the films and television shows of the early 00s (American Beauty, Mulholland Drive, Ally McBeal) the album is both cinematic and nostalgic.

The house itself becomes central to the songs. Retaining the original décor of its previous owners, it exists as a kind of time warp, both comforting and disquieting. This setting shapes the album’s lyrics (strange details lurking in the cushions, the carpets, in the roses growing outside the door) and in its visual world; Abby Poulson’s photographs, taken in the house, create a subtle, Lynchian atmosphere where the ordinary feels quietly surreal. The mysterious red kite – native to mid Wales – is a spectral presence throughout the record, hanging above the housing estate like an omen. As the album closes, though, the final words - ‘I can see the stars here’ - linger, leaving a quiet sense of peace.

Returning to Sain studios in North Wales, Georgia reunited with the band who appear on 2024’s Cool Head – Gruff Ab Arwel (who arranged the strings for that album) takes up synth and keyboard duties, whilst Gavin Fitzjohn (Paolo Nutini, Manic Street Preachers) added horn arrangements in Cardiff. Georgia’s children – Owen, Idris and Alma – also feature on the album, singing on ‘Thema Alma’ – an improvised lullaby at the heart of the record.

Produced by Georgia with long-time collaborator Iwan Morgan, the album was mixed by TJ Allen (Bat for Lashes, Portishead, Anna Calvi) who brings a distinctive shimmer to the songs.