Next month sees the return of Willkommen’s FOXTROT all-dayer at Stanmer House. This year’s event takes place on September 11th.
Willkommen Records and Melting Vinyl are proud to announce that FOXTROT’s special guest for 2011 is Herman Dune.Other performers include festival favourites, Peggy Sue, multi-instrumentalist Sam Amidon , folk pop princess Hannah Peel, the soulful Kate Stables AKA This Is The Kit and lovely Bella Union artist Alessi’s Ark.
Following the great success of 2010’s event which saw Laura Marling, Anna Calvi and Sons Of Noel & Adrian and more delighted a sold out crowd, Brighton’s premier folk collective, Willkommen Records, and co-conspirators and renowned South Coast independent music promoters, Melting Vinyl, are very pleased to announce our third all day show at Stanmer House.
For one glorious late summer afternoon and evening, this bespoke boutique festival celebrates all things folk in the relaxed company of friends, local, national and international artists alike in truely regal surroundings.
The setting is in a nature reserve on the outskirts of Brighton, a mere stroll from the University of Sussex campus and at the heart of the Sussex Countryside. Stanmer House is a beautifully restored, Grade I listed stately home built in 1722. It’s regal but inviting and warm – the perfect environment.
This year’s event takes place on September 11th.
Willkommen Records and Melting Vinyl are proud to announce that FOXTROT’s special guest for 2011 is Herman Dune.
Long championed by the late great John Peel, Herman Dune have gained a cult reputation for charming audiences around the globe with their unique blend of warm melodic folk combined with humour through their performances. Out of Paris, all across Europe and all the way to New York City, the band were created by David-Ivar Herman Dune and Neman Herman Dune (Cosmic Neman) more than ten years ago, and these French/Swedish ‘Godfathers of Anti-Folk’ have written over 400 songs together. With their new release of “Strange Moosic”, this quirky fun duo will have you dancing in no time as the sun goes down over the fantastic setting of this gorgeous stately home.
www.hermandune.com
The Special Guests don’t stop there!
From outside of the collective, we are delighted to once more invite several artists to join us in our celebrations of this unique Brighton folk festival.
Its a true pleasure to announce that acclaimed folk singer and multi-instrumentalist Sam Amidon will be showcasing his third album ‘I See The Sign’, working with old-time melodies and lyrics as a starting point for creating an heady atmosphere.
Festival favourites, Peggy Sue, make their triumphant return to Foxtrot with their highly anticipated release through Wichita, Acrobats. Expect beautiful harmonies, intricate acoustics and rhythmic drums from this post-folk trio.
Providing autobiographical tales of misadventure and voodoo injected grooves will be Joe Gideon & the Shark. This brother/sister duo, hand-picked by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Seasick Steve and Archie Bronson Outfit to perform with them, have wowed crowds with their Olympic gymnastic drumming and beat-fuelled riffs.
Also Foxtrot audiences will be treated to an exciting performance from new folk pop princess and multi-instrumentalist Hannah Peel. Having toured with the likes of Erland & the Carnival and released critically acclaimed debut album ‘The Broken Wave’, Hannah is set to wow the Foxtrot audience with her bewitching vocals, intriguing array of instruments including a unique “music box” and “charming folk-tinged indie”.
The Leaf Label’s Nancy Elizabeth will also be inspiring us all with her folk infused sound joining the dots between PJ Harvey, Leonard Cohen and Steve Reich.
And in a decade which has seen a wide ranging and fruitful revival of interest in folk music, Stephen Cracknell’s The Memory Band have stood out at the forefront of this movement. In a rare performance, the Foxtrot audience will be treated to their thrilling improvisations around traditional and original material alike, creating a live sound compared to “an acoustic Mogwai”.
Alongside these rising stars, a range of fantastic artists from the Collective and the extended family will be playing.
One folk but soulful lady who will be gracing our presence at Foxtrot is Kate Stables AKA This Is The Kit. Playing guitar, banjo, trumpet and percussion, This Is The Kit will be creating a wonderful atmosphere for just one girl in the Pelham Room.
We are also very excited to welcome back the return of Bella Union’s Alessi’s Ark, whose acutely melodic and exquisitely tender folk-pop has blossomed into something extraordinary. Having performed with Mumford and Sons and last year’s Foxtrot headliner Laura Marling, this intimate set is not to be missed.
Lulu and the Lampshades will be drawing on a host of influences to produce something that is passionately ramshackle, upbeat and folksy at times, mournful at others, percussive, and harmonic.
An “unknown, supernatural force” is set to blow everyone away with the beautiful, backwards weirdness of Birdengine. The release of ‘The Crooked Mile’ sees Birdengine record his first full-length album that takes you on a remarkable journey through strange lands to bizarre outsider characters, drowning monsters and villages swallowed by the ground.
Tristram will be providing a beautifully simple shimmering slice of folk, backed by experimental sweeping harmonies.
Brighton’s Woodpecker Wooliams is likely to draw comparisons with Joanna Newsom with high pitched vocal and harp accompaniment, however, is set to seduce audiences and the festival with her lo-fi melodies that evoke an English Countryside full of mysteries and fairytales, which seems most fitting given the setting.
And a whole host of surprise performances throughout the day from the likes of Willkommen favourites, Sons of Noel & Adrian, Laish, and more to be announced shortly.
Stanmer House, Stanmer Park, Brighton BN1 9QA
Doors open at 2pm, Bands begin at 3pm, and the Festivities go on until 10pm.www.wilkommenrecords.co.uk
