Dates: 5th-7th August
Where: Braziers Park, Oxfordshire
Now in its seventh year, Supernormal is returning to the heart of the Oxfordshire countryside in August to bring us more of the best in experimental music and arts. This year the event has received additional funding from Arts Council England, and has set out to use this financial boost to expand further beyond the constraints of the traditional festival setup. The organisers are also still bringing some of the best musicians from outside the mainstream to Braziers.
This year, the line-up includes the Vibracathedral Orchestra, who’ll be hypnotising the punters with their long-form improvisational pieces set around drones and extended rhythmic workouts. Texans The Cush specialise in magnetic, sweeping sounds that nods to country and psychedelia. Meanwhile, Dutch institution The Ex bring their minimal, no-barriers DIY to Oxfordshire. Trio Bas Jan, the new project of Serafina Steer, combine krautrock-inspired wig-outs and off-kilter pop conventions into poignant tales of the everyday, while Big Joanie will be challenging the audience with some hardcore black feminist punk.
Other acts on the bill so far include saz player Asiq Nargille, vocal artist Ian William Craig, the primal improvisations of Sophie Cooper and Delphine Dora, Japanese collaboration Turtle Yama Warashi and electronic trash-trawlers Giant Swan.
This year also features an extensive arts programme with a diverse range of shows and residencies across the weekend. It includes a reunion of some of the women involved in 90s zine GirlFrenzy, Sam Mcloughlin and David Chatton Barker moulding themselves into the natural environment in Night Improvisations and an imagining of what a bat band would be like in The Neighbours Are Bats.
Tickets and more information can be found on the Supernormal website.
