Ruthin folk band Cats and Crows launch their most personal album at The Old Courthouse

Ruthin's town clock bells, a local female voice choir and a spoken Welsh translation all feature on the new album from Cats and Crows, a record that its writer says is the most honest the band has ever made.

This Time Will Pass Anyway is released on Friday 27 November, and the band will mark the day with a launch concert that evening at The Old Courthouse on Well Street, Ruthin.

Cats and Crows formed in 2016 and describe themselves as acoustic folk from North Wales, built around the songs of Ruthin songwriter Isaac Birchall with a revolving door of friends and family. Drummer Andy Cooper has played on every record, and returns for this one. The band's earlier albums are Honest Crimes, released in 2016, Winter in 2018 and The Mourning After in 2020.

The new nine-track album took nearly 18 months to record. Isaac began writing it after losing his cat Jinx, his first pet as an adult. "When she passed, I did what we do as artists and I started writing my way through it," he said. "This is the most honest album we've ever made because this time I wanted to get closer to the truth than I ever have before."

The record is rooted in Ruthin. The town clock bells were recorded inside St Peter's Church, and a female voice choir from the area contributes. The final track, Am Byth, features a Welsh translation spoken by Ruthin's James Aled Jones and traditional Welsh pipes played by Tim Eastwood. "I knew I wanted to connect closer with my home town and with being Welsh with this album," Isaac said.

It was written, recorded and mixed in North Wales and mastered by Fergal Davis in Dublin. A recurring lyric, "Sunshine on the day you set sail", carries a message of hope. "On the worst day of your life, the sun is still shining somewhere," Isaac explained.

Two singles lead the way: Mining Time, out on 2 October, and Anyway, one of Isaac's oldest songs and the inspiration for the album title, released on 30 October.

The launch show at The Old Courthouse has doors at 7.30pm, with support from Martyn Peters. Tickets are available through catsandcrows.co.uk.