Rising Cornish music star Mantaraybryn pulls no punches in his brilliant and best single yet, writes Local Democracy Reporter Lee Trewhela.

No Economy is an angry and darkly witty synth-pop rage at second homes and locals being priced out of Cornwall.

It’s no coincidence that it’s released today – St Piran’s Day, the national day of Cornwall. It’s a slice of sly political reality among the celebrations of all things Kernow.

With 2,000 empty homes across Cornwall – many of them second homes and holiday properties – and 800 families in emergency and temporary accommodation, No Economy is a timely reminder that many Cornish folk, particularly young people, can no longer afford to live here.

Mantaraybryn – real name Bryn Evans – was born and raised in Saltash, but moved to Cardiff to study journalism before finding his true path as a musician. He’d love to come back to Cornwall but can’t afford to, as the biting lyrics of No Economy attest.

Falmouth Packet: A still from the video for No Economy by MantaraybrynA still from the video for No Economy by Mantaraybryn (Image: LDR)

“I want to go home, can’t afford a property, I want to go home, but someone bought the sea / I met the devil, he’s so thrifty. He put this whole town on Airbnb.”

Coming on like a peeved, tribal Pet Shop Boys, Bryn sings “Keep away from me with your London money / Buying up the land for a two-week jolly”.

Taking inspiration from Mark Jenkin’s critically acclaimed 2019 film Bait, Mantaraybryn’s latest offering joins the growing wave against second home culture.

He said: “Of course I’m angry, so the song has this very obvious fury and pain to it. There are whole villages that are dead throughout winter with the only economy being so seasonal. It’s an incredibly niche topic I know. Pop music is often seen as being vapid or lacking substance, but I wanted this to be an anthem for people while this discussion is getting oxygen.”

The accompany video for this new Cornish anthem - which can be watched below - shows Mantaraybryn as a destructive second homeowner, literally taking a bat to a model of the iconic tin mine, flattening it to dust. On a bleak coastline, he’s also a lonely fisherman, brooding and pacing.

Mantaraybryn has been releasing music and performing live since his 2016 debut album Dark Shapes in the Water.

His later EPs Black Kemble and Year of the Heron have built an impressive catalogue, amassing over 26 million streams on Spotify. He has since performed at festivals, sold-out UK tours and played Birmingham Pride’s Mainstage slot.

The Cornish sea air is in Mantaraybryn’s blood. He draws lyrical inspiration from the natural world, folklore, and romance around him, twisted with the modern pressure of being what he describes as a fearful queer in an ever-daunting world. Excerpts from his diary and iPhone notes become poetry, and then driving bangers and ballads.

Musically, he’s inspired by alt-pop elite including Kate Bush, Robyn, Florence & The Machine, Caribou and George Michael. He started writing and recording his striking songs in the family home in Cornwall from the age of 14.

Bryn told me: “The first album was recorded in Plymouth and self-funded. I literally just made it as a passion project and put it on Spotify and YouTube, and then I went away to uni and things gathered speed.”

He’s a fan of Welsh/Cornish musician Gwenno who sings entirely in Kernewek, the Cornish language, so he’s chuffed that she said of No Economy: “It’s catchy, it’s snappy, it’s utterly brilliant.”

Bryn said: “I was lucky to have a teacher at Brunel Primary School in Saltash who was very much into Cornish heritage, language and mythology which has informed a lot of what I still write about. Some of my songs touch on that folklore and use those stories to navigate modern problems. I’m very humbled and inspired by my own county.”

The singer says he was particularly inspired by Livewire, the Saltash-based youth music project.

“The most important thing for me being in Cornwall was Livewire. Even as an audience member watching my friends’ bands before I had the confidence to perform. You could go down there and it would be 30p to hire a rehearsal room, watch a gig, have a drum lesson, there was so much down there.”