Earlybird Festival Tickets now on sale
HowTheLightGetsIn welcomes three-time Grammy Award-nominees Groove Armada, Mercury Award-winner Talvin Singh and Mercury Award nominees Django Django, promising the best festival party yet! Check out the latest music acts joining us for Hay.
Weekend Festival Tickets have now sold out! A limited number of Day Tickets and Flexi Day Passes are available.
"The art and soul of the party"- Harper's Bazaar
It’s been eight years since British four-piece Django Django burst onto the scene with their eponymous debut LP and charmed the pants off people with their oddball harmonies, tilted synths, angular guitars and driving, motorik rhythms, all melted together into a distinct, sun-dappled psychedelic sound.
The boys have been prolifically busy ever since. They’ve released a total of three albums and toured heavily as they pursue their quest to bring their uniquely joyful music to the masses. Their last album, 2018’s Marble Skies, is a prime example of the eclecticism of Django Django’s sonic influences, which run the gamut from synth-pop, Krautrock and psychedelia to techno and vibrant indie rock.
"The art and soul of the party"- Harper's Bazaar
Tom Findlay is a DJ and one half of the music duo Groove Armada, who are well known for their electronic house music. They have released nine albums and collaborated with a number of artists. Throughout his time at The Perse, Tom developed a love for music, teaching himself to play keyboard and guitar in the evenings.
Established as one of the planet’s best-loved and biggest selling dance acts, they are as comfortable on the big stages as they are in sweat soaked basements.
The internationally-acclaimed singer presents a stripped-back evening with just piano, creating an intimate evening of songs and stories about loss, love, joy, light and darkness – some are hymnal and at other moments she will rock out, choosing music from her favourite writers Cave, Cohen, Bowie, Radiohead, Brel and Arcade Fire. Camille can usually be found touring internationally with her band, so this will be a rare opportunity to see her like you've never seen her before – presenting a one-off intimate evening, up close and personal.
"Queen of the Edinburgh Festival" (BBC) and original star of Olivier Award-winning LaClique, Camille O’Sullivan enjoys a formidable reputation for her intensely dramatic interpretations of the songs of Brel, Cave, Waits, Bowie and more. The multi-award-winning singer has stunned audiences around the world with her five-star sell-out performances, including at the Sydney Opera House, Royal Festival Hall, La Clique, Royal Albert Hall, Later with Jools Holland (BBC).
The music created by British drum 'n' bass musician and tabla player Talvin Singh unites the classic traditions of the East with the modern dance-club textures of the West, a style he defines as "tablatronics." Rising to recognition in the mid-1990s, Singh was one of the first to introduce Indian music to today's mainstream youth and to simultaneously inspire a new direction for emerging electronica artists.
Singh released his first solo outing. OK, an East/West fusion album populated by arrangements of strings, breakbeats, and tablas, won for Singh the highly coveted Mercury Music Prize. One of the most memorable tracks, the rhythmically complex "Mombasstic," discussed his father's experience of ejection from East Africa. Listening through this piece and the remaining songs, all held together with trance-like rhythms, one is alternately confronted with both chaos and order. Strikingly, these disparate forces blend and transition seamlessly in the hands of Singh.
After impressing at the MOBO awards and wow-ing with a soaring performance at the Royal Albert Hall (and more recently with her Royal Albert Home lockdown performance), soulful singer and cellist Ayanna Witter-Johnson returns to HowTheLightGetsIn. With her musical prowess, mesmerising vocals and mastery for reinterpreting songs on her cello, she is musical proof that classical and alternative R&B music could and should coexist. It's no wonder that Gilles Peterson calls himself her biggest fan.
"The artist of our time ... she is fire" - The Guardian
Many musicians like to speak of versatility, but Nabihah Iqbal has better grounds than most. She boasts an MPhil (focused on African history) from Cambridge, experience working in human rights law and a black belt in Karate. Formerly known as Throwing Shade, she has ditched that moniker to embrace the name she was born with.
The London-based musician, producer, DJ and broadcaster released her debut album, ‘Weighing of the Heart’, via Ninja Tune in December 2017 and has since garnered huge critical acclaim from the likes of The Guardian, Pitchfork, Dazed, The Observer, Q Magazine, BBC Radio 1 and BBC 6Music. She is currently working on her second album at Somerset House Studios in London, where she is an artist-in-residence.
Steam Down is a collective, a weekly night, and a genuine movement. Formed in May of 2017, the project was born out of Ahnansé’s desire to reconnect to a community: fractured not only by endless touring, but the forces of gentrification and censure threatening the arts across the capital. Lacking a stable and collaborative space in which such creativity could flourish, Ahnansé chose simply to make his own: in Steam Down’s case, their musical Mecca proved to be a railway arch bar in South London, soon home to a frenzied, weekly jam-night infamous for its opportunity for reflection, release...and a lot of sweat.
As they prepare to roll out their debut EP, ‘Five Fruit’ - and bring the weekly night back from the pandemic - Steam Down’s return feels particularly poignant. The collective has already seen the likes of Kamasi Washington, Charlotte Dos Santos, Poppy Ajudha and Jools Holland appear unannounced on their nights, whilst picking up two Jazz FM Awards, playing Glastonbury, selling out Village Underground and headlining Boiler Room’s festival.
Nemone has been broadcasting for nearly 25 years, with the last twenty at the BBC. Joining Radio 1 in 2000, she also presented to mainstream audiences on Radio 2 and Five Live before finding her spiritual home at BBC Radio 6 Music. She has produced and presented documentaries for BBC Radio 2 and has hosted numerous television shows reflecting her passion for sport and music, including but not limited to TOTP, BBC Ski Sunday, ITV’s coverage of the British Touring Car Championships.
Nemone is best known as a BBC Radio 6 Music DJ. A familiar daytime voice on the station, her passion for dance music led her to curate a weekly specialist show Electric Ladyland for the last decade. She is passionate about the link between music and mental health and can be heard exploring this in greater detail on her Journeys in Sound series; taking a deeper dive into our relationship with music and its effect on the mind body and soul, interviewing musicians about the experiences that have shaped who they are today. In October 2021, the episode featuring John Grant discussing his life experiences and relationship to music won a New York Radio Festival Award.
Porij return with new single Ego and debut EP Baby Face, once again showcasing Porij's minimalist grooves, heady bass and Eggy's beautifully relaxed vocal delivery. Hotly tipped by the likes of The Guardian, Dork, The Daily Star, Evening Standard, NME, DIY, Clash - the band were also part of the recent British Music Embassy SXSW performance. The band's last four singles have all been playlisted at BBC 6music with recent single Nobody Scared making the A-list.
Eggy, Tommy (vocal and guitar), James (bass and keys) and Tom (Drums) are all currently studying in Manchester. They write, record and produce their modern alternative pop sounds in their student house - each member recording parts in their separate studios/bedrooms and then merging the sounds together meticulously, to form their distinctive “oats” sound.
Girls Of The Internet have swiftly risen up the electronic music ranks since their debut release ‘When U Go’ on Luke Solomon’s Classic Music Company in 2017. Known for eclectic disco-inspired house music both behind the decks and in the studio, their productions have found a welcome home on Defected and Heist Recordings, as well as two self-released and critically acclaimed albums. With support from DJ’s like Pete Tong, Nemone, The Blessed Madonna, Jamie xx and Axel Boman, and accolades such as a BBC 6 Music 'Album Of The Year', a mix for Apple Music/Beats One's 'One Mix’ series, and an album forthcoming on Classic/Defected; the group show no signs of slowing down.
Drawing inspiration from the past 50 years of dance music, Girls’ music joins the dots between house, garage, disco, techno and dub - creating something that glances back into dance music’s history, whilst keeping it’s eyes firmly on the future.
Natalie Findlay, professionally known as Findlay, is a singer, songwriter and musician. Originally from Manchester, she moved to London at 20 to pursue a career in music. Her highly anticipated second album ‘“The Last of the 20th Century Girls’” is self-described as a “late coming of age story” drenched in nostalgia and melancholy. The record effortlessly melds breezy alt-indie, psychedelic pop, dreamy lo-fi chill, indie-rock and expansive cinematic sounds.
Since her 2017 debut “Forgotten Pleasures” she embarked on a collaborative project with long-time writing partner and producer Jules Apollinaire. In 2019 TTRRUUCES was born – a psychedelic rock opera following the story of two characters on the search for a mythical drug named after the band. Having released their eponymous debut “TTRRUUCES” in 2020 to critical acclaim, the pandemic skewered any touring plans for the band and so came the perfect moment for Natalie to hunker down and truly develop her second solo record ‘“The Last of the 20th Century Girls.’”
Honeyglaze is a South London based, haiku-loving trio comprised of vocalist and guitarist Anouska Sokolow, bassist Tim Curtis, and Yuri Shibuichi on drums.
In keeping with their broody-Pop-come-Alt-Indie sentiments, in tracks such as the aptly titled ‘Start’: a solar complex stirring call from the top of Sokolow’s spirit, to the bass-y heart-pluck of Curtis, and back over to the rhythmically knobbly-knees of Shibuichi, or, the rollicking jangle of ‘Shadows’, Honeyglaze are able to command total encompass as the protagonists of their own melancholic-manifesto; an effervescent adventure guided by chord progressions, and seasonal changes in elation.
As for what remains, be it performing to a rammed crowd at Brecon Beacons ‘Green Man’ festival back in August, or playing at the iconic ‘100 Club’ for Fred Perry’s ‘All Our Tomorrow’s Festival’, it’s safe to say that Honeyglaze are well and truly embodying the concept of ‘one’s to watch’.
With a look that falls somewhere between Adam Ant and Prince and a sound that blends shimmer pop, alternative rock and electric-folk; London-based singer/songwriter Charles Costa burst onto the scene in 2012 with critically acclaimed debut ‘LoveBlood’, shortly after being the first British artist to win Nashville’s International Songwriting Competition. An accolade all the more remarkable given that it was judged by Tom Waits, Jerry Lee Lewis, Loretta Lynn and Jeff Beck.
Following collaborations with Marcus Mumford, and the Grammy-nominated Matthew Wilder, his next series of EPs are coming thick and fast, each of which see him exploring different genres and sonic styles. They are King Charles’s most immediately captivating songs to date featuring a rich, organic full live band feel.
The former frontman of The Correspondents, one of Britain’s most in-demand festival
acts for a decade, went solo in spectacular style last year, unveiling a new sound
which draws on decades of UK dance music, from tech house and jungle to garage
and house.
On his debut EP RACE TO NOWHERE [PART ONE] , Mr Bruce lets loose as never
before. Lyrically candid yet flamboyant in delivery, as honest as it is inventive and as
theatrical as we’ve come to expect from the bendy-bodied performer.
The brand new stage show, featuring new choreography and some of his most flamboyant costumes to date, fuses together his latest material with a carefully selected handful of The Correspondents’ hits to create a unique and unparalleled live experience.
Formed late 2014 in Chester university digs, the three-piece band Peaness write catchy, fuzzy, harmony driven indie-pop songs about love, friendship, frustrations, Brexit and food waste.
The trio have been playing together since summer 2015, and their fun, friendships fuelled live performances have been winning the hearts and minds of people up and down the country. They have secured nationwide and international shows with bands such as The Beths, Kero Kero Bonito, The Cribs, We Are Scientists, The Big Moon & Dream Wife. They have performed at many festivals including Green Man, Benicassim, Truck, Great Escape, 2000 Trees, Kendal Calling & Indietracks.
The band have strong roots in the DIY scene, self-releasing their first EP ‘No Fun’, and releasing their critically acclaimed EP ‘Are You Sure?’ with UK independent label royalty Alcopop! They often make their own music videos, have close creative friends doing press shots and art work, and even have their mum’s making handmade squeaky peas for merchandise.
A Welsh speaker with Bajan heritage, 24 year old Kizzy Crawford has made her mark by fusing bilingual soul-folk jazz. Kizzy has had recognition for her work with airplay on BBC 6MUSIC, BBC Radio 1, 2, 3 & 4, BBC Radio Wales & Radio Cymru plus Jazz FM as well as support on European airwaves and in the US.
"She's overflowing with a comfortable self-confidence and has every right to be" - Big Issue
Cerys Hafana is a Welsh triple harpist, pianist and composer. Though very much steeped in the classical and Welsh folk tradition, she takes inspiration from a wide range of musical influences.
Shunaji is an award-winning producer, rapper and singer-songwriter based in London. She has been supported by the MOBO Help Musicians Fund (2018) and PRS Foundation’s Women Make Music, in recognition of her innovative musical style and thought-provoking lyricism.
As a producer, Shunaji is inspired by electronic music, trip hop and hip hop, blending synth sounds into my creations and using samples as vehicles to generate genre-bending tracks.
Shunaji performed at several world-renown music festivals and venues such as Glastonbury Festival, The Great Escape, Wilderness Festival and the Roundhouse. Her releases have been played on radio stations such as Worldwide FM, Red Light Radio (Amsterdam), Hollow Earth Radio (Seattle) and BBC 1XTRA, where she made it to the top of Jamz Supernova‘s ‘EP of the Week’ selection.
Flats & Sharps are a four-piece bluegrass outfit from Penzance, Cornwall. Delivering energetic, enthusiastic, and spirited Bluegrass to audiences all around the world, Flats & Sharps have been performing their unique take on this music for over ten years.
Their shows include a wide variety of influences, from a fresh and modern outlook on foot-stomping Bluegrass material through to their powerful and well-crafted original songs, with beautiful moments everywhere in between. Their music perfectly blends strong harmonies and stonking solos, their incredible stage presence and energy create an evening that’ll have you dancing, laughing and singing along in no time.
Over their time together, the band have made their presence known all around the world, including multiple tours in Australia, Europe and around the UK.Festival appearances at Nashville Meets London, Cambridge Folk, Isle of Wight, Larmer Tree – to name just a few.
A new album year for the band in 2022 – a truly wonderful collection of virtuosic songs that are sure to only increase popularity as a highly skilled Bluegrass outfit.#
South London singer-songwriter Sophie Nicole Ellison is a skilled multi-instrumentalist, producer and engineer. She’s entirely self-sufficient in her work as Hussy, sculpting vast sonic vistas that feel unfathomable and eerily intimate all at once. It’s this dichotomy that lies at the heart of her startling, self-titled EP, capturing the sound of a resolutely independent artist on a quest for human connection.
On her debut EP, she’s stepped up another gear again, creating songs that are as intimate as they are direct. From the quiet majesty of ‘Infinite’ - with its cascading guitar and wonderfully lo-fi violin - to the sun-warped wooziness of ‘Moths’ and anthemic alt-rock of ‘I Tried’, this is a set that showcases the scope of Ellison’s vision, taking inspiration from artists as diverse as Smog an Bill Callahan, Liz Phair, Free Kitten, Sheryl Crow and ‘Music’-era Madonna.
London based singer-songwriter Ailsa Tully has created an ethereal world rooted in folk, tinged with indie, and grounded by lofi field recordings. Ailsa’s vocals are tender yet determined, central to the haunting soundscape she has crafted. Her lyrics are unflinchingly honest, rousing and poetic as she explores themes such as her own mental health and her experiences as a woman.
Accompanied by an all-female band Ailsa Tully sways between intense emotive harmonies, driving rhythms and modal melodies. Playing the bass in a distinctive and unique way to accompany her voice, she is elevating it from its conventional role and exploring its unknown potential.
Ailsa has received support from BBC Radio’s Huw Stephens, BBC Introducing and Amazing Radio. Her most recent accomplishment is signing to Dalliance Recordings (Home to acts including GIA Margaret and Wilsen).
This spring, 7-piece festival favourites Cable Street Collective are embarking on a mini-tour, with shows in Cornwall, Wales, Bristol and their native London, among others. Taking a break from recording their debut album, the band will be road-testing new material as part of their set of African-influenced, alt-pop bangers.
The band has been a fixture on the festival circuit since the release of their first EP in 2014, and have since built up a stellar reputation as a live band, with shows Glastonbury, Shambala,Boomtown, The Isle of Wight Festival, Bestival, Secret Garden Party, and the Lake of Stars Festival (Malawi).
Cable Street Collective are currently recording their debut album, due out in spring 2022. The next single from the record, The Wolf, will be released November 26th. Their previous single Bells & Whistles (March 2021) is a favourite of BBC Radio 6’s Tom Robinson.
The Manchester-via-Gloucester songwriter first came to public attention after her singles ‘Flaws’ and ‘Asylum’ brought huge streaming success - the latter is approaching 8.5 million Spotify plays. A UK and European tour with Jesca Hoop followed soon after, as did festival appearances at SXSW, Greenman and Cambridge Folk Festival - Foy was also set to play Glastonbury’s Acoustic Stage in 2020.
Having lost her Dad to depression, ‘Left Centred Weight’ is about the existential thoughts prompted from understanding mortality at a young age.
“It’s about feeling that everyone’s going to die, which comes about from having grieved once before. But ultimately coming to terms with it and making peace”, Foy explains.
Clara Mann makes almost-folk to keep calm in a busy world. The 19-year old newcomer made her striking debut in February this year with ‘Consolations’ (Sad Club Records) - an EP tipped on release for its wise-beyond-years approach, intimate production and distinctive, self-assured vocals. Preceded with tender first single ‘I Didn’t Know You Were Leaving Today’ and clear-cut follow-up track ‘Thoughtless’, the four-song collection observes her first meetings with adulthood; befriending vulnerability, protecting malleable boundaries, and the fragility of self that runs parallel with personal growth.
A keen painter, visual storytelling is embedded into Clara’s music, and during its incubation she found herself drawn further into the work of Edward Hopper; “maybe today I was the hunched figure from ‘Nighthawks’, tomorrow, the woman in the empty bedroom of ‘Morning Sun’. The pictures bled into the songs - the movie-still feeling, the muted colours.” In keeping with this romanticised nostalgia, Clara’s eyes serendipitously fell upon scores of Liszt’s ‘Consolations’ last summer, a piano series her mother used to play when she was young. Reminded of its comfort ringing throughout her childhood home in the south of France, it felt apt to mirror this and name the release by the notion with which Clara’s own writing provided her - to console.
The Blaenavon Male Voice Choir’s roots can be traced back to the organised male harmony singing in Blaenavon as early as 1873, and in 1910 the Blaenavon Male Voice Choir was officially founded, which remains an institution in the Town to this day.
The choir enjoy singing whether it’s the local chapel or in front of thousands such as at the Principality Stadium Cardiff, where in 2018 we were invited to entertain the 74,500 spectators with songs and sing the National Anthems prior to kick-off of Wales v Scotland’s NatWest Six Nations Championship. The Choir has toured extensively in UK, Eire, Europe & Scandinavia, USA and Canada, and successful participated in Eisteddfods & National Competitions.
Media work includes television, the successful BBC Coalhouse series and of course the recording of numerous songs on DVDs’. More recently ‘Love your Garden’ (ITV Hub) with Alan Titchmarsh and singing in the crowd scene of the film ‘Dream Horse’. The story of a Welsh village that bought a horse which won the Welsh Grand National currently on general release in the UK cinemas.
Eadyth is 21 year old Welsh speaking singer-songwriter, living in Merthyr vale, in Wales. She's a bilingual artist who has also recently started to play acoustic guitar.
She is passionate about collaborating with other artists and writing and producing songs. Her debut single is called Little Wish / Dymuniad Bach.
HowTheLightGetsIn resident DJ for 2022 - Max will be playing each and every night across the festival, bringing his soul-shakin’ disco debauchery and dance-floor bangers along to fire up the late night shenanigans!
It’s glitter, sequins, big smiles and bigger tunes all the way - he’s been putting a smile on the faces of party-goers all across the UK over the last three years. Energetic performances have seen him light up festivals from Wilderness, Latitude and Camp Bestival to Larmer Tree, Green Man, Shambala, El Dorado and Big Feastival. Knockout warm-up sets for Craig Charles, Norman Jay, Sister Bliss and Rob da Bank have really put him on the map. During Lockdown he spent most of his time streaming DJ sets live from his kitchen, including a marathon 24-hour non-stop session earlier this year!
With a busy schedule of corporate parties, brand launches, club nights, and his EXT radio show - he’s a man on a disco party mission!
James and John have spent the past eight years establishing their brand Late Night Disco all across London - with residencies and regular appearances at all the coolest joints in town: Oval Space, XOYO, The Queen of Hoxton, Boxpark, The Prince of Wales Brixton and Oslo Hackney.
They’ve won competitions from Data Transmission, Coors Light and MixMag, and are resident DJ’s at El Dorado festival, where they headlined the Nest back in 2019. They’ve Dj’d alongside a whole host of superstars including Rudimental, Horse Meat Disco, Joey Negro, Norman Jay, Dusky and Dr Packer and have been smashing it on Twitch all across lockdown!
Get stuck in with Late Night Disco and our resident DJ Max Galactic for HowTheLightGetsIn’s Friday night party in 2022!
DJ Emma’s career really began to take off when she won the Smirnoff Equalizing Music DJ competition back in November 2018. Since then she has done two winter residencies in the luxury ski resort of Zermatt, and DJ’d at a heap of UK festivals including Glastonbury, El Dorado, Larmer Tree, Camp Bestival, Wilderness and Creamfields. She’s a regular at Brixton Courtyard and 93 Feet East in London, and this summer also DJ’d at Marston Park in Somerset alongside Horsemeat Disco, Groove Armada and PBR Streetgang for the ‘Pikes Ibiza’ takeover. She regularly warms up for funk and soul legend Craig Charles and has also supported Huey Morgan on his ‘Block Party’ tour.
Emma also has a blossoming radio portfolio - she spent a year on London based Select Radio where she hosted guests from all across the world of dance music including Smokin’ Jo, DJ Paulette, Terry Farley, Sarah Story, Bklava, and Lisa Loud. She’s now moved on to the highly regarded Brighton-based station 1BTN where she curates her monthly show ‘Boogie Boulevard’, and is also a Friday night monthly resident for BBC Radio Wiltshire.
We’re delighted to have Emma DJ alongside Max Galactic on our Thursday night opening party for HowTheLightGetsIn 2022!
Grab your leotards and sweatbands - It's time to party ‘80s style! DJ Mikey Snooze, Betty Haynes and their team throw the wildest ‘80s shows in festivals and clubs across planet Earth!
They’ve performed at all the major UK festivals including Glastonbury, Wilderness, Shambala, Elrow, Latitude, BoardMasters and Boomtown, warmed up for Sara Cox’s ’80’s tour and made crowds sweat from Antwerp to Barcelona and from the snow topped Alps to the tropical Seychelles!
Their aerobics instructors, DJs, dancers and circus artists have performed to crowds of thousands getting them all spinning, shaking and thrusting to the best era of music EVER!
Come and join them (and don’t forget to get dressed up) for our Saturday night party in summer 2022, when they’ll be headlining our HowTheLightGetsIn Saturday night party alongside our resident DJ Max Galactic!
Lycra 80s Party Promo Video from Lycra 80s Party LTD. on Vimeo.
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