LIVE (Photos): The Great Escape Festival 2018

The Great Escape kicked off UK festival season in sun-soaked style last weekend, and it’s taken us a few days to gather our thoughts on the prolific 3-day event, renowned for championing new music. Spread across multiple venues in Brighton, we managed to catch some of the brightest talents in between sunbathing on the beach and consuming our body weight in fish & chips.

Irish beauts Pillow Queens kicked off proceedings with their packed set at The Prince Albert on Thursday afternoon, setting a high standard for the rest of the weekend, before Scottish alt-rockers The Ninth Wave blew us away at Horatios at the end of the Pier. They had three shows by the sea, so they definitely made waves.

Soccer Mommy

Gracing the brand new Beach House stage were Snail Mail and Soccer Mommy, and both performed to big crowds with their catchy slacker-pop anthems. We saw out Thursday in spectacular style at The Hope and Ruin with our favourites Queen Zee. Their packed set included a cover of Dizzee Rascal’s ‘Bonkers’ and their usual crowd-pleasers ‘Boy’ and ‘Sass Or Die’.

Queen Zee

We partied a little too hard post Queen Zee, so Friday was pretty hazy until our favourite rock-pop duo REWS blew our hangovers away with their set at the Beach House. We caught this duo in 2016 at The Speigltent and since then they’ve signed to Marshall Records, released their debut album Pyro, and have started sharing their singles in America. These girls are exceptionally talented and always entertaining to see live.

REWS

We had high hopes of catching Bodega, but the queue outside The Haunt was longer than the equator, so we took off in search of venues supporting The Alternative Escape. We caught some of psych-rockers Strange Cages before calling it a night.

Saturday started off with Canada’s Partner, who were a complete joy to watch live at The Walrus. We caught some final rays of sunshine and had our last portion of chips before heading over to Sticky Mikes Frog Bar to catch Copenhagen’s Nelson Can, who were ultra-cool all clad in white. We spotted Brighton’s ARRX on the barrier watching them too. Electronic one-woman-wonder Elsa Hewitt was the last act we caught in Komedia before the festival was over. She hypnotised us with her well-crafted electronic sounds.

Our photographer Jon Mo was arguably the most productive man in Britain over The Great Escape weekend and he managed to catch all the bands we didn’t (aside from Dream Wife, who unsurprisingly packed out The Beach stage to capacity.) Check out his incredible shots below. Brighton, we’ll see you again in 2019!

Audiobooks

Brooke Bentham

Chroma

Hatchie

Jealous Of The Birds

Stella Donnelly

Photo Credit: Jon Mo

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

Get In Her EarsLeave a comment

Introducing Interview: Greta Isaac

Innovative Welsh artist Greta Isaac has previously charmed our ears with singles ‘Tied’ and ‘Comfortable’ and is now back with another addictive slice of glitchy electro-pop.

Her project, as a whole, is an exploration into habits and destructive human tendencies. Each song explores and exaggerates a different unhealthy trait from the perspective of a neurotic character, and we can’t get enough of her sweeping soundscapes and soaring vocals.

With new single ‘Undone’ out now, we caught up with Greta to find out more…

Hi Greta, welcome to Get In Her Ears! Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Hello! Sure – I’m welsh, 5ft 1 and I enjoy long walks on the beach.

How did you initially start creating music?
I’ve always loved singing, writing and listening to music – my parents are musicians so it was always in the house growing up. I was lucky enough to have an introduction to harmony and songwriting from an early age.

Your new single ‘Undone’ is out now – can you tell us what it’s all about? Are there any themes running throughout?
All my songs are sung from the perspective of various neurotic characters, all exaggerated versions of the fleeting thoughts we often have. ‘Undone’ is the embodiment of narcissism, someone who enjoys the thrill of perusing someone only for the joy of being admired.


You’ve been compared to the likes of Billie Eilish and Maggie Rogers, but who would you say are your main musical influences?
Ah that’s cool! I love Randy Newman’s chords and lyrical concepts, Rufus Wainwright’s theatrical and classical references, Nickel Creek’s percussive bluegrass folk instrumentation and Son Lux’s sparse and genreless production.

How is your local music scene? Do you go to see lots of live music?
The art scene in Cardiff is a humble one – there’s so much going on and so many talented folks doing amazing projects. Art wise – I’m a huge fan of Lucy Dickson, George Manson and Stephen Madoc Pierce – who did all the artwork for my releases. In terms of music, I tend to see a lot in London since I work there often. I’m seeing Yung Blud and my good friend Orla Gartland there this month.

And what can fans expect from your live shows?
Lots of dancing, drum bashing and awkward stage chat.

As we’re a new music focused site, are there any new/upcoming bands or artists you’d recommend we check out?
I love Sasha, Hannah Grace, Emma Miller and whyetc.

And how do you feel the music industry is for new artists at the moment – would you say it’s difficult to get noticed?
I think the industry and how music is being listened to is changing rapidly all the time – the thing that’s consistent throughout these changes are originality and a love for songwriting and connecting with an audience. I guess as long as you stay true to those things you can’t really go wrong!

Finally, what does the rest of 2018 have in store for Greta Isaac?
More music, more projects, collaborations, and a music video for ‘Undone’ coming soon.

Huge thanks to Greta for answering our questions! 

Get In Her EarsLeave a comment

Get In Her Ears Live @ The Windmill w/ Heavy Heart, 23.05.18

We were extremely excited to host our first night at legendary Windmill in Brixton on Wednesday. Having been a favourite London venue of ours for years now, to be able to put on some of our favourite bands there was really quite an honour.

The night kicks off in breath-taking fashion with London duo Scrounge. As front woman Lucy’s immense vocals rage alongside whirring, scuzzy hooks and Luke’s thrashing beats, the sound that the two of them create is truly impressive. One of the most exciting bands I’ve come across in a long time, I’m left completely blown away by Scrounge’s intense outpourings, and can’t wait to see what they have in store of us next.

Next up is another duo; this time in the form of Brighton’s Hanya. Treating us to their twinkling garage-rock sounds, front woman Heather’s impassioned, soulful vocals cast as all under their spell in an instant. As Hanya’s shimmering offerings flow with a subtle, gritty edge, it’s a simply dreamy set. And, as Heather shares with the crowd that this may be their favourite ever gig, I start to realise it may be mine too!

Penultimate band of the night, Tokyo Taboo, have wowed us more than once with their vibrant, energy-fuelled live set. And tonight is no different. As front woman Dolly Daggerz takes to the stage to blast out set opener ‘Make It Out Alive’, she starts out as she means to go on – dazzling the crowd, not only with an amazing amount of glitter and glowing heels, but with her unique, empowering charisma. Another unforgettable set from the band, Tokyo Taboo never fail to deliver.

Drawing the night to a close are Heavy Heart. As Anna Vincent’s luscious vocals flow seamlessly alongside spellbinding, multi-layered soundscapes, it’s impossible not to fall in love with this band’s captivating grace. Transfixed by their intricate musicality and majestic psychedelic haze, I’m left in awe of Heavy Heart’s totally dreamy offerings.

Huge thanks to the four amazing bands who played for us on Wednesday; to The Windmill for having us, and to everyone who made the trip out. It was a dream of a night, and we can’t wait to come back soon!

Mari Lane
@marimindles

Get In Her Ears1 Comment

Interview: Hannah Peel

Hannah Peel is a musician who very much marches to the beat of her own drum, or rather more fittingly, the beat of her Moog synth. Always diving head first into whichever project or two she has going, always pouring in a sense of discovery and wonderment, creating her own unique blend of sound.

We caught up with Hannah to talk about her recent touring, creating the sound for a musical adaptation of Brighton Rocks, as well as the story behind her upcoming remix album Particles In Space.

“Dipping my toes back into the theatre for Brighton Rocks was brilliant for me as I could express a lot of things. I had a lot of freedom with the director and the creative team to explore what I wanted to. They were really up for pulsing, dark synths.”

But how did she cope with the pressure of the interpretation?

“The most interesting part of that discovery is the book – when you go back and read it from a musical point of view there are hundreds of references to music in there… One of my favourite films is David Lynch’s Blue Velvet – you’ve got this classical kind of you know… ‘Blue Velvet’ (she sings down the phone) underpinning it all. In the show there’s a dancehall theme and they go to the cinema. I wrote three songs which were of a classic kind of ilk.”

Storytelling is something that Hannah does best with her albums, and with her most recent Mary Casio: Journey to Cassiopeia, Peel makes use of a colliery brass band and synths to launch Mary Casio (a wonderful, mad space lady) into outer space.

“On paper it looks like something that wouldn’t work, like it may be twee or something. But actually the power of the brass and synths, using the low end of the sub of the Moog fills that whole sonic palate of waves of the brass band. Live, you just get this overwhelming feeling – it just hits you like a force! It has this effect of making you feel like you’re really small… I would put on my glasses and play Casio keyboards, like the tango and rumba beat. Just as a way to alleviate what Awake But Always Dreaming (Hannah’s album prior to Mary Casio) was. I started taking it a bit further but there’s actually a star constellation called Cassiopeia which is the most insane thing – what if she went to space? What if she’s this mad space lady? I’ve been reading up on physics and in one of the books I’ve been reading it said we have a hundred billion neurons in the brain which are as many stars as there are in the galaxy. Reading that just cemented the idea – she’s going to go to space!”



Awake But Always Dreaming was dedicated to the debilitating effects of Alzheimer’s disease on sufferers and their families. Something which Hannah dealt with first hand with her own Grandmother. Mary Casio, however, lives in the world of lost memories.

“At the very, very end of the album my Grandfather sings on the ‘Planet of Passed Souls’ and that’s him from 1927 as a 13-year-old boy. I kind of imagine that she got to this planet, stepped out of her spaceship, and has gone out and seen all the wind and rain, but the planet itself was sort of a place that might filter the rain out of the atmosphere, all the memories and sound and what you might remember. Take them off and put them into the air, swirl them around you… That is the end of the whole thing. After that I couldn’t write anymore anyway as it felt like that was the end. But maybe this was just her waking up in her garden, maybe this somebody passing into the realm of a different life. Maybe she just went there?”

With such a magical story behind the album, what was the thought behind inviting others on board for Particles In Space?

“I wanted to see how other people would interpret synths and brass bands, see what they would do with them…. I’m very honoured a lot of people have done the mix for me. I wanted to call it Particles In Space because of all these new stars that are being born and the atmosphere. All the people on there are UK based and that’s something I really wanted – to be a nod to the radiophonic workshop. I would say about 80% of it is female. Everything has its time, now seems to be the analogue, synth revival – I don’t think I’ll ever change out of it, I like it way too much!”

Huge thanks to Hannah for the chat and answering our questions!

Mary Casio: Journey to Cassiopeia is out now and Hannah Peel is playing at BBC Music Biggest Weekend today in Belfast.

Nicky Lee Delisle
@Nicky___Lee

Get In Her EarsLeave a comment