Sŵn Festival have shared the latest and final batch of additions to complete the line-up for this year’s event, taking place across multiple venues in Cardiff from October 20th-22nd. An unmissable highlight of the live calendar, the festival once again returns with a jam-packed bill full of established and upcoming artists, a celebration of the diverse, nature of both British and Welsh music and beyond. It promises to be another year of nurturing the best local, national and international artists and offering a platform to bigger and better things.
Bringing the kitchen-sink realism of working-class life on the Isle of Dogs to the Welsh Capital is Hak Baker. The East London troubadour, with his street-level stories and confessionals of youthful nihilism and male vulnerability, has been described by Vice as “subverting what a British folk singer can be“. A vital, inimitable voice for those often denied one, Baker’s set promises to be a life-affirming wonder brought to you from the edge of armageddon.
Making a colossal entrance into the music scene – and what will be an even greater entrance into the streets of Cardiff – is the widely- lauded Picture Parlour. Observing their ravenously watchable live set that is fast becoming one of the hottest tickets in their native London, you might wonder if you’ve found yourself back in July 1976 awaiting a neo-noir screening. Be prepared for an interlude of mini motion pictures that vow to lure audiences with the lyrics of a born thespian, accompanied by a generous dose of spellbinding guitar and sleazy bass lines.Joining them for this year’s line-up is Acid Klaus, the moniker of cultural agitator and electronic innovator Adrian Flanagan – the man behind the curtain of The Moonlandingz and Eccentronic Research Council, and many more trailblazing sounds born from the North of England. Acid Klaus’ performance celebrates his second album, Step On My Travelator: The Imagined Career Trajectory of Superstar DJ & Dance-Pop Producer, Melvin Harris. It’s a phenomenal vortex of excess, hedonism and vampires of clubland culture, and in Cardiff it all awaits you.
A firm favourite on the festival circuit across the UK and Europe, London quartet Flamingods are in town bringing with them their distinctive take on psychedelia, new wave, electronica and punk, blending in influences from their unique cultural heritages and a shared penchant for 70s British rock ‘n’ roll.
William Doyle, fka East India Youth, comes to town with one of the most critically acclaimed back catalogues of the last decade in his pocket. From his 2014 Mercury-nominated debut album, Total Strife Forever, right through to his 2021 art-pop masterpiece Great Spans of Muddy Time, Doyle has been one of the most innovative sonic auteurs in British music in recent memory. Expect a suitably wondrous set from him in Cardiff.
Immensely charming, folk-tinged sextet – and recent Heavenly signings – Tapir! join in the festivities and promise to bring a touch of whimsy to proceedings, while LA’s Zzzahara – a frequent collaborator with Eyedress – will scratch the itch for anyone in need of reverb-laced break-up bangers. In the mood for some grunge-tinged dynamism? Brighton trio Our Girl have you covered. Psychedelic, motorik meanderings that clash with techno-tinged beats? You’ll be wanting to catch the inimitable The Utopia Strong. Alt-pop full of hefty guitar lines and infectious RnB energy, that’s as influenced by Fugazi as it is Frank Ocean? Rising Speedy Wunderground artist Viji might just be the one for you.
These additions join an already jam-packed line-up that includes the abundantly hyped The Last Dinner Party, the one-man maelstrom that is Skinny Pelembe, British indie treasure Bill Ryder-Jones, brutally abrasive post-punk noire crew Mandy, Indiana, Manchester-via-New-Jersey auteur BC Camplight, filth-funk merchants Opus Kink, explorative Turkish-Sri Lankan experimental pop game-changer BODUR, Nottingham indie heavyweights and new Gravity/EMI signees Divorce, futuristic rock ‘n’ roll quintet Fat Dog, Dutch singer-songwriter Pip Blom, YALA! mainstay and much-loved indie staple Willie J Healey, and London mutant disco meets post-punk trio MADMADMAD.
Earlier this year, the festival announced their 20 For 23, in which Sŵn highlighted a selection of the country’s most promising newcomers in its first line-up reveal of the year.
Artists announced as part of 20 For 23 included pop disruptor Jessica Winter who crafts a world of gothic, dance-driven cabaret, the near-mythical Lynks whose your hook-up for ear-splitting bass with a queer punk ethos, subversive alt-pop visionary Ethan P. Flynn and the ever-fascinating Westerman, as well as hotly-tipped local talent including the romantic, driving post-punk of Slate and ascendant rapper Luke RV, a real gem at the centre of Wales’ burgeoning hip-hop scene.
Speaking on the latest batch of names to join the 2023 edition of the festival, Sŵn head of music Adam Williams shares: “One thing that makes Sŵn so special and exciting to us is that we’re able to book the artists across the course of a full year. It means by wave three the focus is on those artists who have emerged in the past few months leading up to the festival like Viji, Picture Parlour, Trout and Flip Top Head. We also welcome better-known artists like Our Girl who make their long-awaited Sŵn Festival debut.”
Keep your eyes peeled for more from Sŵn Festival as October approaches, but for now head to swnfest.com for more information and ticket pricing options. From today, single day tickets as well as two-day ticket bundles are available at the following prices: Friday – £20, Saturday – £40, Sunday – £30, Friday + Saturday – £55, Saturday + Sunday – £65. Early bird and tier one weekend tickets sold out before a single artist was announced, with tier two weekend tickets still on-sale.
Sŵn Festival is a multi-venue music festival based entirely in Cardiff’s city centre, which has been running since 2007. Since its inception, the festival has been focused on new music, emerging artists and homegrown acts.
Sŵn Festival – 2023 line-up (so far):Acid Klaus | Alaw | Alffa | Ani Glass | Artshawty | Baba Ali | Babymorocco | Banshi | BC Camplight | Bill Ryder-Jones | BODUR | Bonny Doon | Butch Kassidy | Car Boot Sale | CATTY | Cerys Hafana | Chilli Jesson | CHROMA | Cloth | Corella | Conchúr White | Crimewave | DasRADIAL | Death Cult Electric | Divorce | Elanor Moss | Ella Lockert | Ellur | Esther | Ethan P. Flynn | The Family Battenberg | Fat Dog | Ffenest | Flamingods | Flip Top Head | Frozemode | Getdown Services | Gillie | Grey FLX | Gwcci | Hak Baker | Half Happy | Hands Off | Hemes | Hex Girlfriend | Honesty | Hyll | The Itch | Jack Valero | Jasmine Jethwa | Jessica Winter | KEG | Lande Hekt | The Last Dinner Party | Living Body | Los Blancos | Luke RV | Lynks | MADMADMAD | Magugu | Malgola, No | Mandy, Indiana | Maria Uzor | Max Rad | Mercy Rose | Mickey Callisto | Minas | Moin | Monet | Morgan Harper-Jones | Murder Club | Muriel | The New Eves | New Wave Sound.Ent | Nookee | O. | Opus Kink | Oscar Browne | Oslo Twins | Our Girl | Pale Blue Eyes | Parisa Fouladi | Picture Parlour | Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs | Pip Blom | Rosie Alena | Safari Gold | Sage Todz | Salti | Shelf Lives | The Shunkos | Skinny Pelembe | Saloon Dion | Slaney Bay | Slate | Sleep Outside | Sophie Jamieson | Tapir! | Thord1s | Tiny Camels | Treeboy & Arc | Trout | The Tubs | TVAM | Twst | The Utopia Strong | Vanity Fairy | Viji | Waterpistol | Westerman | William Doyle | William The Conqueror | Willie J Healey | Y Dail | Ziyad Al-Samman | Zzzahara
