For four days every May, hundreds of new bands from around the world descend on Brighton in the hope that a salvo of a quickfire shows around the city’s many small venues, cafes, beaches, record shops and rooftops will propel them to greatness. Here’s Uncut’s pick of this year’s hopefuls…
TYLER BALLGAME
If you can persuade 200 or so people to duck into a dingy nightclub at midday on the sunniest day of the year, then you’re clearly doing something right. Tyler Ballgame – apparently the name of both the singer and the band – are already generating buzz for their impressively in-the-pocket retro-soul swing, something akin to Roy Orbison fronting the Hi Rhythm Section, with a hint of Alabama Shakes. Tyler himself is a bear-like figure with a surprisingly feminine voice, inhabiting these songs with just the right balance of vulnerability and swagger. Yes, he does look a bit like Jack Black in the Minecraft movie. But get past that, and he could really steal your heart.
FOLK BITCH TRIO
It takes some cojones to open your set with an a capella rendition of “This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)”, especially when you’re singing directly into the faces of curious punters packed like sardines into the tiny Bella Union Shop. But this Australian trio’s own songs are every bit as stunning: the wry, twentysomething dramas of Boygenius delivered in the inventive three-part harmonies of The Roches. It’s a thrill to hear a line like “I had a filthy dream” sung so beautifully, but they can also do straight-up heartache; at the end of “Mary’s Playing The Harp”, about having an emotional wobble a long way from home, both audience and band are wiping away a tear.
WESTSIDE COWBOY
There’s a heartening new wave of young British bands embracing Americana. Manchester’s Westside Cowboy begin their set with a lilting country waltz, even if thereafter it’s ’90s alt.rock all the way, with only a faint whiff of twang: think Buffalo Tom, Superchunk or the noisier Saddle Creek stuff. All four band-members sing, including powerhouse drummer Paddy Murphy, whose relentless pummelling really helps elevate Westside Cowboy above their slacker-rock peers. He ends the set by removing his snare drum and marching to the front to join the rest of the band for a campfire singalong, emphasising that their songs work at all volumes.
THE NEW EVES
The New Eves look like they’d be more at home playing a forest clearing than a no-frills rock club, but cheered on by a supportive local crowd they make for a compelling spectacle. Despite the quasi-pagan stylings, they deal in rousing feminist anthems rather than twee fairytales, eschewing power chords in favour of violin, ’cello and a drummer who occasionally doubles on flute. It makes for an appealingly brittle, earthy, tribal sound, sometimes reminiscent of PJ Harvey circa Let England Shake.
ELLIE O’NEILL
Playing solo in Brighton’s One Church, Ellie O’Neill barely talks or moves for the duration of her set – save to remove a jumper or put her acoustic guitar into ever-more complex tunings – but she holds a small crowd in the palm of her hand throughout. Partly this is due to her evident instrumental prowess, holding down chords that even Joni Mitchell might find challenging. But her lyrics also regularly stop you in your tracks with their stark, visceral imagery. “The chemical drips / From your mouth to your hips” runs her first line, and it only gets more harrowing from there. Admirers of Adrianne Lenker’s solo records should investigate immediately.
