Swn Festival 2012. GO!

Swn Festival is almost upon us! October 18 to 21! Below is an extension of a 'bands to see' piece that ran in the Daily Post on Friday October 12.
Of course, it does not include the likes of Liars, Django Django and The Cribs -- that'd be pointless. It is also slightly North Wales bands-heavy. There are only a couple from outside that area, that doesn't really matter, though, because they are all great, without exception. They are in no particular order.

There are also a lot of bands here from Dempsey's on Sunday. That is because it's a Crackling Vinyl stage and the line up is wonderful. You could do much worse than just camping there for most of the day. But get there early, Irma Vep start at something like 3pm.

Trwbador : O’Neill’s (Trinity St), Thursday

Sparsely constructed folk and psych is all wistful and haunting. The breathy vocals of Angharad Van Rijswijk are unavoidably beautiful. The duo have an album out soon, which is pretty exciting.



Ifan Dafydd : Undertone, Friday

DJ/electronic artist from Gwynedd, incredible musician and former flatmate of James Blake. Better than James Blake. Scheduling etc. at last year's event meant that Dafydd played to the upstairs of Clwb Ifor Bach as it started to fill up. Regardless, he was great. Hopefully a slot in the wee hours will suit him.


Irma Vep : Dempsey’s, Sunday

The solo incarnation of Klaus Kinski drummer Edwin Stevens. HAHA, his tenth full length album, was released earlier this year. Stark and visceral, it is one of the best records, I at least, have heard in aeons.
The track What's That in Your Mouth is below, but you should really just go here and listen to as much as you can.


Mowbird : Dempsey’s, Sunday

Wrexham’s Mowbird are bratty and loud. They produce jittering wedges of off-kilter surf pop that slide haphazardly between bright melody and a caterwauling yelps of guitar and keys.
This will be the second time the group have played Swn. Since last year they have become more toned and glossy, trashy, like some pulp fiction magazine. Progressing all the while yet never losing their charm or immediacy. They are thoroughly ace.


Sex Hands, Dempsey’s, Sunday

Mostly from Conwy but based in Manchester, the foursome make music inspired by the hit TV series Friends. Infinitely better than that sounds, they straddle the line irresistible melody and lo fi, teeth shattering squall. Delightful.
They are cited by more than a few as Wales' Best New Band. People, me included, have a tendency to flail about wildly with superlatives and the like. It is not hard, though, to see where the few are coming from.



Sen Segur : O’Neill’s (Trinity St), Friday

Talk to anyone about Sen Segur and among the first things they will mention is how young they are. Secondly, they are likely to use the word progressive. Progressive has become something of a dirty word. But in the vein of Yes or Emerson Lake and Palmer, Sen Segur are not a prog band
The Penmachno group lead you down the road of ace reeled in psych, making stops at Brian Jonestown Massacre and Gorky’s along the way. Refreshingly, they seem particularly disinterested in labels. They are more interested in Olympic swimmers.
[I saw them live for the first time at Green Man Festival last month. They were great, really great]

Shy and the Fight, Dempsey's, Sunday

Shy and the Fight are a 12-legged band from the border country between Chester and Llangollen. Their hearts are as big as their harmonies and choruses. Which is to say huge.

Since their inception in 2009, their early demo recordings have earned them airplay on BBC Radio Merseyside, BBC East Midlands and BBC Radio Wales – and a BBC Introducing session on 6Music.

They have a record out on Popty Ping which you should buy, partly because it's orange but mainly because it's lovely.

Sweet Baboo, Undertone, Saturday

Otherwise known as Stephen Black, he plies his trade in bittersweet pop blasts. He has performed elsewhere with the likes of Cate Le Bon, H Hawkline and Euros Childs. On his own he produces sparkling melodies swinging from darkly funny to tender. Self-deprecation never goes a miss either.

Sweet Baboo's last record, A Girl Under a Tree, is a marvellous medley of tales, a distinctly human collection of lost love, relationships and the world. There is a hell of a lot to love.

Golden Fable, CHAPTER STIWDIO, Sunday

Formed out of the ashes of the Tim and Sam Band, Golden Fable are the brainchild of Tim McIver and Rebecca Palin. They mix electronics and guitars into lush folk-influenced atmosphere.

They are though, a bolder, brassier concept than the Tim and Sam band. Pop sensibility is gratefully intact but the group owe an awful lot to Palin’s soft and swooping falsetto. The single, Sugarloaf, is a shining slice of gossamer pop. Really, and quite disarmingly, lovely.

They remind me a lot of the Vaselines, mixed with The Radio Dept. and Enya. Which isn't really helpful. Because they don't sound like that at all.

Sam Airey, O'Neill's (St Mary Street), Saturday

Very early on the Saturday of Swn 2011, a crowd of fragile heads shuffled into a Radio Wales showcase and were greeted with Sam Airey‘s dark tales of love and the sea. Perhaps in some part down to mass recovery, it was an experience as bleak as it was startlingly powerful and disarming. Through his own admission, the Anglesey musician covers slightly morose territory. His music haunts, but in a good way.

Lying somewhere between James Taylor and John Martyn he is always thoroughly entertaining.

See also:
Gallops, O'Neill's (St Mary Street), Saturday

Joanna Gruesome, O'Neill's (St Mary Street), Sunday

Plyci, Gwdihw, Sunday

We Are Animal, Gwdihw, Saturday

Gulp, Solus, Thursday