Following their acclaimed second album Public Mono, Newport’s Burning Ferns returned in 2023 with World Of The Wars.

World Of The Wars is the sound of a band grappling with the world going to hell, and making sense of it through the medium of pristine guitar pop. 

Initially recorded remotely in the face of Covid lockdown and completed at their Le Mons studio, Newport in 2021/22, it is an album of relentless musicality and guile. Songwriter Anthony Gray displays unerring quality control to deliver 12 startling new songs that push on from the power pop of previous releases to more widescreen musical aspirations.

Accompanied by established Ferns, Nathan Abraham (lead guitar/vocal), Brychan Todd(bass/keyboards) and Dave Corten (rhythm guitar/vocal), the album sees a personnel change on drums. The band say hello to Newport’s assimilated New Yorker, Erik Stams (Darling Buds, Jon Langford & The Men of Gwent).

The songs are a wall-to-wall technicolour delight, embracing a range of styles including glam rock, pure pop and 70s psychedelia. It is a lyrical tour de force too; wrestling with a wider range of themes from the mundane to the existential. Covid rears its ugly head on Danger In The Western Hemisphere and Tell Me Something I Don’t Know, while there is restlessness too (Frustration/ ‘Til Tomorrow). Add to that a simple love song, a song about the #MeToo movement seen through the prism of primates, and a polemic on disaster capitalism, and you have the makings of an album for our times. 

In the end, it is enough to bring you to tears, as the album ends with guitar-pop masterclass The Town Crier, chosen as the lead single for this release.

Noted by Shingdig! to be “pristine” and lauded as being “simply astounding” on the BBC Wales review show, the “jangletastich” (Robert Rofiter) World Of The Wars was mixed by Charlie Francis (REM/High Llamas/Robyn Hitchcock), with artwork provided by Newport’s greatest cult hero, Jon Langford. 

Longlisted for the Welsh Music Prize, the album was rereleased on vinyl in March 2024. 

"Rich and warming in its style and collected influences, sometimes the fuzzy guitars of Burning Ferns escort you to 1960s/70s West Coast America, while equally beautiful vocal harmonies bring Field Music to mind. On this, their second album, the Newport outfit have really come forward with a sound that is simultaneously classic and current. From album opener Don’t Get On Them Horses you are instantly hooked and the rest of the long player is a joy" JE - Buzz Magazine

"Without a doubt, this debut album from a quartet of musicians from South Wales gives us the best Beatlesque album since The Red Button. “John” is a not-so-subtle shout out to Lennon with its sweet chords. The two part harmonies, hand-claps and guitar jangle are all there for the masterful “All Roads Lead To Rome.” The laid back, breezy hooks are all over “Sand” and the thumping bass lines on “Crunch Time” are another highlight among many.

The compositions are different enough to prevent any fatigue, the psychedelics are kept to a minimum with a combination of great 6 and 12 string Rickenbackers doing all the heavy lifting here, so for fans of The Spongetones this album is a “no brainer.” The Burning Ferns don’t simply emulate the Fab Four, but take the music a small step further adding other influences, primarily The Byrds on the last track “Clouds Forming.” Don’t miss this one, its on my top ten for 2014 list."