I'd like to see you colouring the air

Now that it's over, I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about Cerys Matthews appearing on 'I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here'.

Amongst the usual rabble of V List ex-celebrities, she seemed such an odd choice.

For one, she's not the kind of person you'd imagine to be chasing fame, desperate to have herself shoved in front of a prime-time audience every night for a few weeks. Nor would think she'd particularly want to join the wannabes and desperadoes who live their lives on the inner pages of badly written, glossy gossip magazines. Well, apart from the NME maybe. And ok, she hasn't exactly troubled the charts for a while but she always seemed like she had some integrity.

But then, maybe that says more about how judgmental I am of these shows and the types of people who normally go on them. Maybe I have an unfair opinion of people that I think are cool and therefore judge them harshly when they do something that could be deemed to be uncool. I don't know. To be fair to Cerys though, for the most part she handled herself with grace, dignity and intelligence and came across better than most contestants normally do. Though I'm sure we could have all done without the unfortunate canoodling with that bizarrely scarred bloke who used to be in Eastenders. Not least, his girlfriend.

Anyway, the potential explanation for Cerys' appearance seems to have appeared when I opened this month's copy of Uncut magazine. And it appears her reasons for appearing are much the same as anyone else who goes on the show. That of resurrecting their career. For what do I see as I flick through the pages? Why if it isn't a review of 'Awyren=Aeroplane', the new Welsh language record by former Catatonia singer Cerys Matthews. How very conveniently well timed screamed the cynic in me. The odd thing is that the review (written before the show started and her appearance was announced) is incredibly positive, giving the record four out of five and saying 'The unfamiliarity of the language elevates her terrific voice, lending it the air of indefinable mystery we tend to grant as a given to, say, Bjork or Sigur Ros'. It goes on to claim that it may be her best record yet. If more reviews repeat the same sentiment, you have to wonder whether her appearance was necessary and whether it may infact harm her chance of success and lower her credibility. True, it may well have raised her public profile but how many potential music fans will be put off by her record because of 'I'm A Celebrity...'? And how many of the show's fans are likely to buy a Welsh language record?

Regardless of that, I thought a timely reminder was needed of what Cerys the musician is capable of.Forget living in the jungle. Forget surviving on rations, surviving trials and surviving Janice Dickinson. It's all about the music. These two songs were recorded live and acoustic and are simple, folky songs that showcase her real talents.

Cerys Matthews - morning sunshine (live acoustic session version) original version available on 'Never Said Goodbye'

Cerys Matthews - statue of a fool (live acoustic session version)

mp3 / music / cerys matthews / i'm a celebrity get me out of here