FULL LINE UP REVEALED FOR EXETER ACOUSTICA FESTIVAL 2011
The South West’s best festival of alt-folk, folktronica and Americana returns to Exeter for the third year running. This year’s Acoustica Festival of alt-folk and Americana takes place on September 16th (from 6pm) and 17th (from 3pm), with a new Secret Garden Stage at Exeter Phoenix, films, DJ’s and the addition of the Bikeshed Theatre as a venue, making six stages in all. There will be 40+ artists and bands, including visitors from Norway, Poland and the USA.
Friday features James Yorkston, Treetop Flyers, Alessi’s Ark and Marcus Foster, The Loose Salute, Lux Harmonium, All The Fires, Laura J Martin and the Simondsound, Savaging Spires, Natalie and the Loners and Scianka. Saturday sees the likes of Richmond Fontaine, South West singer songwriters Beth Rowley and Hannah Peel, Laura Gibson, The Miserable Rich, 247 Magazine favourites Ellen and the Escapades, Songdog and Count to Fire. There is also Jazz Morley, Alex The Great, Heathens, Mat Gibson, JB & the Backline, Buswell, Honey Sol and more.
James Yorkston is a singer-songwriter from Fife and a fully-fledged member of the Fence Collective – along with King Creosote, Lonepigeon and Pip Dylan. He has also had success with his own band The Athletes, and latterly The Big Eyes Family Players, while signed to Domino Records. Known for his haunting, celtic-flavoured songs, his latest release is actually a book, ‘The Touring Diaries of a Scottish Gent’, a mix of deadpan humour and wide-eyed wonder whilst mapping out the realities and endless disorientations of life on the road.
Treetop Flyers are a London five-piece who blew us away at Hop Farm Festival earlier this year and who specialise in rootsy, alt-country rock, that harks back to the golden age of the Laurel Canyon music scene. Since the release of their debut EP, To Bury The Past, in 2009 they have been gathering pace with a reputation for their live performances, which earned them the winning spot at this year’s Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition.
20-year-old folk-popster Alessi Laurent-Marke spins cosmic madrigals with suitable fairytale melodies, dream imagery and baroque arrangements as Alessi’s Ark. Her second album, Time Travel, came out on Bella Union earlier this year. Marcus Foster, aka Marcus Mumford, is famous for his starring role in Mumford & Sons. He has drawn comparisons with Tom Waits, Tim Buckley, Van Morrison and Ed Sheeran. His debut album, Nameless Path’ is released in late September on the Mumfords’ label Communion, preceded by the single ‘I Was Broken’.
The Loose Salute is the project of drummer, singer and guitarist Ian McCutcheon of Slowdive and Mojave 3 fame. Together with Lisa Billson on vocals, keys and percussion, Charlotte King on percussion, bells and whistles and Alan Forrester on bass and keys, the band divides their time between London and Cornwall and cites ‘the beach’ as a musical inspiration. Their second album is released mid September.
Alt-country band Richmond Fontaine were formed in 1994 at Portland Meadows racetrack in Portland, Oregon as songwriter/vocalist Willy Vlautin and bassist Dave Harding pored over the racing form and talked music between races. The two took their mutual love of Husker Du, Willie Nelson, X, The Blasters, and The Replacements and started playing music together. Before long, Fontaine was a solid four-piece outfit with an avid fan-base in the US and abroad. Known for Vlautin’s incredibly rich and evocative lyrics, several of Richmond Fontaine’s songs relate to horse racing specifically and gambling generally. They release their 8th album in SeptemberThis is largely an artifact of Vlautin’s upbringing in Reno, Nevada, a place that is heavily referenced in his lyrics, along with Portland, the U.S. Western states in general and occasionally Mexico. Vlautin is also an acclaimed novelist, having written two respected books, The Motel Life and Northline. As a fiction writer, he is often compared to Raymond Carver and Charles Bukowski while his lyrical style is inspired by the narrative style of Australian artist Paul Kelly.
Bristol-based singer-songwriter Beth Rowley draws on blues, country, folk, gospel and Latin American musical influences. After releasing three EP’s, her first album, Little Dreamer, was an instant Top Ten hit. She’s since collaborated with a number of other musicians, including Crowed House, Duke Special and, most recently, Ron Sexsmith on her forthcoming second album.
Hannah Peel, a previous collaborator with The Unthanks and Tunng, released her debut album, The Broken Wave, earlier this year, established her straight away as a powerful new creative force in folk music – performing as a trio.
The Miserable Rich’s music has been described as ‘pop music that could soundtrack a nursery rhyme created by Tim Burton’. With their layers of delicate, elegant strings and rich vocals the band lead by violin and cello, with acoustic guitar and double-bass holding down the rhythm. These members of Brighton-based Willkommen Collective display classical, jazz and psychedelic influences within their lush chamber folk.
Leeds based Ellen and the Escapades are finding themselves firmly at the front of the alt-folk wave, currently sweeping the UK and beyond. After winning the Glastonbury’s Emerging Talent competition this summer, and securing themselves a main stage slot, the band played a vast number of UK festivals and are now focusing on their first album.
Count To Fire have an alt-country sound that evokes the wide open spaces of the American Mid-west but has its roots firmly planted in Devon. The band builds subtle layers of violin, chiming guitars and swooping harmonies behind frontman Will Odgers impassioned vocals. Taking inspiration from the intimacy and expansive sound of Americana, Count To Fire have forged their own identity to create a mature and original sound that has been described as ‘English country’.
Tickets £10 per day or £16 for the whole weekend. Possibly the best value festival ever. More info at www.acousticafestival.co.uk
