Sŵn Festival have unvieled the second wave of names for its 2024 edition. The multi-venue festival is taking place across the Welsh capital from Thursday October 17th to Saturday October 19th. This year’s iteration of the festival sees Sŵn become part of Cardiff Music City Festival: a three week-long celebration of innovative, accomplished music coming to the city, full of gigs, immersive happenings, residencies, installations, and pop-ups, pushing the boundaries of music, performance and tech. Sŵn is dedication to nurturing a diverse range of the best local, national, and international talent and offering a platform to bigger and better things.
One of the most talked-about new bands in the country, Brighton punk duo Lambrini Girls come to Cardiff this autumn bringing with them a knack for tongue-in-cheek, biting breakdowns of hot button societal issues. Thunderous recent single ‘God’s Country’ has seen them lauded all over by the likes of BBC Radio 1, 6 Music and NME as well as sharing the cover of Kerrang! with alt-rock luminaries Sleater-Kinney and being nominated for a Rolling Stone UK Award. See what all the fuss is about for yourself come October.
Fresh from the release of his widely acclaimed latest solo album Strange Dance seeing release last year on Bella Union, Radiohead drummer Philip Selway brings his beautiful, dramatic solo work to this year’s festival. Strange Dance, which features guest spots from the likes of Hannah Peel and Portishead’s Adrian Utley, dabbles in an array of genres from neo-classical to Krautrock and a live rendition is sure to be a highlight of this year’s schedule.
Pulling on everything from ambient to drum and bass come recent Partisan signees HONESTY. One of the most exciting and mysterious new fixtures on the UK live circuit, the Leeds outfit produce an audiovisual spectacle that mixes digital and analogue, found material and AI manipulation, a contemporary DIY attitude without the tired punk tropes. Hot on the heels of a string of mind-bending singles and a debut mixtape BOX, listen in and you might just catch a glimpse of a rumoured to be already completed debut album.
The latest venture from Owen “O” Williams and George “GN” Nicholls – the primary songwriters behind the dearly missed Joanna Gruesome – London-based Welsh jangle-poppers The Tubs have been championed by the likes of Pitchfork,MOJO and Uncut since the release of their debut album Dead Meat last year. The quartet fuse the very best of Flying Nun jangle with dashes of post-punk, British trad-folk and contemporary antipodean guitar bands – a concoction so rich in earworm hooks it’ll still be rattling around your head come next year’s festival.
Joining them on the streets of Cardiff you’ll find the likes of emerging post-rock stalwarts and Brixton Windmill alumni Automotion; chameleonic singer-songwriter Jesca Hoop who’s been championed by press and her fellow musicians alike, with notable fans in the likes of Tom Waits and Guy Garvey; London post-punk stalwarts Crows who come to town with their recently announced third album Reason Enough in tow; and viral sensations Good Neighbours whose danceable indie pop blends classic songwriting and a cinematic approach to their craft. Please find a full rundown of today’s new additions further below.
These and so many more head to Cardiff alongside an already packed bill that includes the likes of Wu-Lu, the Brixton born and raised artist forcing punk, grunge and hip-hop into a head-on collision; one of the most acclaimed new bands in the country English Teacher with their seamless mix of collegiate emo-rock, dream-pop and psychedelia; London-based multidisciplinary artist and the internet’s original pop princess, Hannah Diamond; dance-pop darlings Porij; Mary In The Junkyard, the “angry, weepy chaos rock” trio whose mesmerising performances have become the stuff of live-circuit legend; one of our most captivating emerging storytellers Antony Szmierek; and the elusive and much-hyped London band, The Itch.
Sŵn Festival has always devoted itself to showcasing local, grassroots talent. Welsh acts to keep an eye out for this year include the grisly garage-rock and pop sensibilities of Cardiff natives Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard; the Welsh-language indie-rockers Adwaith; rising stars Half Happy who walk the line between heavy and heavenly; Pys Melyn, whose laid-back melodies and wistful psychedelia earned them a Welsh Music Prize nomination; Aberystwyth-born rockers Mellt; and the alt-pop wonder Hana Lili whose landslide critical support led to supporting Coldplay and Tom Grennan.
For the first time since before the pandemic, this year’s festival is multi-venue for all three days promising an even more stacked itinerary for the ravenous new music lover. On Thurs Oct 17th, Sŵn will take over Womanby Street with five stages at Clwb Ifor Bach, Tiny Rebel, The Moon and Fuel. Friday Oct 18th and Saturday Oct 19th, meanwhile, sees the festival expand outwards across Cardiff city centre, with extra stages added at Tramshed, Jacobs Antique Market, Cornerstone and Porter’s (Saturday-only), with more venues to be announced soon. Authoritative music publication DIY have joined the festival as a partner this year and will be taking over a stage and curating its line-up, with more exciting stage partners to be announced in the coming months.
William Dickins, booker for Sŵn Festival, says of the latest additions to the bill: “We’re absolutely thrilled to present this latest group of Sŵn artists. While booking Sŵn, we’re constantly amazed and ecstatic by the rush of new talent that we come across, and the joy it brings us being able to show them off to the music fans of Cardiff is something that never gets old. Showcasing amazing new talents like Lambrini Girls, The Tubs and Good Neighbours is a true honour, and we urge everyone to catch them now while they’re still performing in intimate settings — they won’t be in small venues for much longer!”
This year’s festival is geared towards being more accessible to the wider community than ever before, with the introduction of payment plans, concession tickets and more opportunities to get involved with the festival through the volunteer programme and a brand new apply to play scheme. Sign up to the mailing list to be notified about when applications open.
Day splits for this year’s festival have now been revealed as of today, alongside day tickets going on-sale. Full weekend tickets remain on-sale with instalment plans available. Head here for ticketing options and more info: https://swnfest.com/tickets/
Sŵn Festival is a multi-venue music festival based entirely in Cardiff’s city centre, which has been running since 2007.
NEW ACTS ANNOUNCED TODAY:
Alias | Alien Chicks | Automotion | Aziya | Blue Amber | Bored At My Grandmas House | Bricknasty | Casual Smart | Charlotte Clark | Circe | Creiriau | Crows | The Dream Machine | Enola | Fraülein | Georgie & Joe | Good Neighbours | HONESTY | Human Interest | Hyll | Ifan | Ile De Garde | Ivor Woods | Jesca Hoop | Joe Wilkins | Knives | KYNSY | Lambrini Girls | The Manatees | Mari Mathias | Memorials | My First Time | The New Eves | Night Bus | Noah Bouchard | Paige Kennedy | Pencil | Philip Selway | The Pill | Public Order | Sarah Crean | She’s In Parties | Shlug | Shortstraw | Spielmann | Sun King | Talulah | TTSSFU | The Tubs | YARD
FULL LIST OF ACTS ANNOUNCED SO FAR:
Adwaith | Alias | Alien Chicks | Antony Szmierek | Art School Girlfriend | Automotion | Aziya | Blue Amber | Blue Bendy | Bored At My Grandmas House | Borough Council | Bricknasty | Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard | Canty | Casual Smart | Charlotte Clark | Circe | Clara Mann | Cosmorat | Creiriau | Crinc | Crows | Dana Gavanski | Das Koolies | The Dream Machine | Dushime | Ellie Bleach | Emyr Son | English Teacher | Enola | Fraülein | Freak Slug | GANS | Georgie & Joe | Gift | Good Neighbours | Griff Lynch | Half Happy | Hamish Hawk | Hana Lili | Hannah Diamond | HONESTY | Human Interest | Hyll | Ifan | Ile De Garde | The Itch | Ivor Woods | Jane Weaver | Jesca Hoop | Joe Wilkins | Johnny Loves Me | Kitty & Sorry Stacy | Knives | KYNSY | Lambrini Girls | Lanterns On The Lake | Malan | The Manatees | Manlikevision | Mared | Mari Mathias | Maruja | Mary In The Junkyard | Mellt | Memorials | Mirari | Morn | My First Time | The New Eves | NewWaveSound.Ent | Night Bus | Noah Bouchard | The None | OneDa | Paige Kennedy | Pencil | Philip Selway | The Pill | Plantoid | Plastic Estate | Pleasing | Porij | Public Order | Pys Melyn | Quade | Rachel Lavelle | Razkid | Roddy Woomble | Sarah Crean | The Secret Jesus Factory | She’s In Parties | Shlug | Shortstraw | Shtëpi | Spielmann | Sun King | Talulah | Tom Vek | TTSSFU | The Tubs | TWST | University | The Wave Pictures | Wrkhouse | Wu-Lu | YARD
