First speakers and debates released!
Whether it’s icons of music from Fairport Convention to Charlotte Church, superstar songwriters from Badly Drawn Boy to Anna Calvi, or dancefloor maestros from Andrew Weatherall to Zero 7 – all tastes are catered for on the HowTheLightGetsIn stages.
Stay tuned for our HowTheLightGetsIn Hay 2022 Headline announcement – it’s shaping up to be our best yet!
"The art and soul of the party"- Harper's Bazaar
British dance group Clean Bandit found crossover success by weaving classical music with dance-pop for a beat-driven yet refined sound -- often delivered with high-profile guest vocalists. After scoring their first hit with the multi-platinum international sensation "Rather Be," featuring Jess Glynne (from 2014's New Eyes), they issued a string of U.K. chart-toppers that proved successful around the world, including "Rockabye" with Sean Paul and Anne-Marie, "Symphony" with Zara Larsson, and "Solo" with Demi Lovato, all of which were included on 2018's What Is Love? They again reached the U.K. Top Ten with 2020's "Tick Tock" featuring 24kGoldn before releasing 2021's "Higher" with Iann Dior.
An award-winning English singer/songwriter, Laura Marling's easy voice, old-soul lyricism, and deft fingerpicking evoke the warm and wintry vibe of late-'60s/early-'70s classic rock and folk. Emerging in 2008 with Alas I Cannot Swim, she quickly made a name for herself in the burgeoning West London folk scene alongside contemporaries like Mumford & Sons, Noah & the Whale, and Johnny Flynn.
She took home a Brit Award in 2011 for Best Female Solo Artist and has been nominated for the prestigious Mercury Prize multiple times. Marling earned her first Grammy nomination in 2018 for her sixth album, Semper Femina, which, like her two prior outings, sought to temper her bucolic English folk with breezy, Laurel Canyon mysticism. She also formed the duo Lump with producer Mike Lindsay, before releasing 2020's Grammy- and Mercury Prize-nominated Song for Our Daughter.
Members of one of Scotland's most influential and critically acclaimed bands - Belle and Sebastian - since 1996, Richard and Chris have DJ’d together around the globe.
Taking to the decks at HowTheLightGetsIn, the folk-pop pair will blend the sounds of lounge, indie, psych, exotica and a wealth of rare and wonderful genres, for what promises to be a seminal night of music.
'Burst politely onto the scene 20 years ago, but continue to offer musical surprises' ~ Mojo Magazine
The indie veterans Mystery Jets first emerged onto the music scene in 2006 with their debut LP Making Dens and have since released six albums to critical acclaim. Dropping their latest project A Billion Heartbeats during lockdown in April 2020, the LP was shaped by political protest and the power of social activism.
Garnering support from The Guardian, Clash, The Line of Best Fit and NME for their emotive storytelling, Mystery Jets have been long term advocates for social change - “This album wasn’t about making pointed opinions,” says frontman Blaine Harrison. “It was about being a mirror for what’s going on, reflecting back the way people are feeling.”
Gilles Peterson is a broadcaster, DJ and record collector who’s played a pivotal role in supporting forward-thinking underground music in the UK and beyond over the past three decades. He hosts weekly primetime Saturday afternoon show on BBC Radio 6 Music that’s one of the broadcaster’s most popular music shows, helms independent record label Brownswood Recordings, and is the founder of online radio station Worldwide FM.
Throughout his career, Peterson has promoted the new frontiers of jazz, hip-hop, and electronic music. He’s been recognised for his work with an MBE in 2004, an AIM Award for Indie Champion 2013, the Mixmag Award for Outstanding Contribution To Dance Music in 2013, the PRS for Music Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music Radio in 2014, and The A&R Award from The Music Producers Guild in 2019.
Starting his career installing illicit transmitters and hosting shows for pirate radio station Radio Invicta, he later joined the newly-founded Jazz FM and, after that, joined the influential pirate-turned-legal station Kiss FM. In 1998, he was hired by BBC Radio 1, where he hosted a weekly show until his move to his current slot on BBC Radio 6 Music. He also hosts a syndicated radio program that is broadcast all over the globe, from Mexico City to Paris.
Charlotte Church is a Welsh music artist who rose to fame with her debut album ‘Voice of an Angel’ when she was only 12 years old. She is a gifted singer who has also acted in films and presented a television show. She demonstrated a talent for singing from an early age and has been singing publicly from the time she was three and a half years old. As a child she started out as a classical singer of hymns and sang ‘Pie Jesu’ over the telephone for a television show when she was 11. This was followed by her performance in "The Big Big Talent Show" which brought her to the public’s attention.
She got the opportunity to perform in concerts at Cardiff Arms Park and the Royal Albert Hall. Charlotte’s potential was recognized by Jonathan Shalit, one of UK’s most successful entertainment impresarios, who helped her sign a contract with Sony Music and became her manager.
Her first album ‘Voice of an Angel’ released in 1999 became an instant hit, making her the youngest artist with a No. 1 album on the British classical crossover charts. Her popularity continued to rise over the years and she had been invited to perform in front of famous people like former US President Clinton, the Prince of Wales Charles, and Pope John Paul II.
Hot Chip's position as the thinking person’s party band is now firmly and magnificently set in stone, as is the group's ability to mix the highest strobe-lit euphoria with the most reflective kind of headphones melancholy. In a career that has already produced seven albums, an infinite number of mixes and borderline devotional live performances, Hot Chip have claimed the salvation of the sweet spot of the dancefloor as their own.
Judy Collins
Judy Collins has long inspired audiences with her sublime vocals and boldly vulnerable songwriting which spans a career of over 6 decades. Known for her renditions of hits Both Sides Now, a cover which entered her into the Grammy Hall of Fame and would later put Joni Mitchell on the map as well as the stunning recording of Stephen Sondheim’s Send in the Clowns, which won her the 1975 Grammy for ‘Song of the Year’. She is famously the inspiration of the beloved Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s song Suite: Judy Blue Eyes and her long friendship with Leonard Cohen resulted in her covering Suzanne, turning him into a household name.
She’s garnered several top-ten hits gold- and platinum-selling albums and her legacy has been honoured by contemporary and classic artists such as Rufus Wainwright, Dolly Parton, Joan Baez, and Leonard Cohen with the album Born to the Breed: A Tribute to Judy Collins. She is a modern-day Renaissance woman who is also an accomplished painter, filmmaker, record label head, musical mentor, and an in-demand keynote speaker for mental health and suicide prevention. She continues to create music of hope and healing that lights up the world and speaks to the heart.
"Hearing her voice was like finding a unicorn…she’s still at the top of her game today" - Stephen Stills (Crosby, Stills and Nash)
“He said, ‘I can’t play and I can’t sing’ and he said, ‘I don’t know if this is a song’, and then he played me Suzanne.” - Judy Collins on discovering Leonard Cohen
Don Letts
Don Letts’ reputation has been firmly established in both the film and music worlds over the course of a career spanning five decades. He came to notoriety in the late 70's as the DJ that single-handedly turned a generation of punks onto reggae, and directed over 300 music videos for a diverse mix of artists ranging from The Pretenders to Bob Marley, before moving on to make documentaries on the likes of Gil Scot-Heron, The Clash and Paul McCartney. The Grammy-winning veteran DJ currently hosts a weekly show on BBC Radio 6 Music, blending classic sounds with the best up-and-coming new talent from the world music scene.
“The elder statesman of punk” - Metro
Nerina Pallot
Platinum-selling, BRIT and Ivor Novello-nominated Nerina Pallot’s bewitching vocals and lyrical tales have earned her comparisons to Kate Bush and Tori Amos. The brains behind huge chart hits from the likes of Kylie Minogue, she has quickly built a name as one of the best songwriters in the UK. Come and discover why this “patently brilliant” (Popjustice) singer-songwriter is becoming one of the most recognisable artists of her generation.
‘Dexterous, complex but affecting’- Clash Magazine
‘One of Britain’s brightest singer-songwriters’ - The Telegraph
Cosmo Sheldrake
Cosmo Sheldrake defies categorization. A multi-instrumentalist, playing more instruments than you can name, from the piano and the sousaphone to the didgeridoo and the banjo, he’s also the son of famed parapsychologist Rupert Sheldrake. He has toured internationally, composed music for film and theatre, featured in Apple adverts, and even become a trend on TikTok!
HowTheLightGetIn are excited to announce an exclusive first look into Cosmo’s new music. Stay tuned for future announcements…
“He perceives the daily world around him, definitely with a childlike curiosity and wonder but also with a fair measure of genius.” - Guardian
Donovan Leitch is widely regarded as one of the most influential songwriters and recording artists working today. At his induction into the R & R Hall of Fame in 2012 it was stated, “Donovan singlehandedly initiated the Psychedelic Revolution with Sunshine Superman”.
This masterwork album he created late 1965 at 19 years of age, one year before his friends The Beatles, influencing their album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely heart’s Club Band, and leading the way for many other artists.
It is now history that Donovan became the tutor of The Beatles on the famous trip to India, where he taught John, Paul and George the finger style guitar and many of his unique chord patterns, that would create many of the best songs and styles of The White Album.
Anna Calvi has been revered in the British music industry since she emerged in 2011, a soulful songwriter, virtuosic guitarist and captivating performer. Both her self-titled debut album and the 2013 follow-up “One Breath” were nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, with her debut also receiving a Brit nomination for “Best Breakthrough Artist”. She’s collaborated with Brian Eno, Marianne Faithfull and, on the 2014 covers EP “Strange Weather”, David Byrne. In 2017, she composed the music for “The Sandman”, an opera directed by Robert Wilson. Her third studio album “Hunter” was released in August 2018.
Brendan Benson
Brendan Benson finds himself in an enviable spot as he enters the third decade of a remarkably creative, consistently idiosyncratic career both as a solo artist and frontman of the world famous Raconteurs. After cleaning up with awards such as Mojo’s Album of the year, and the Grammy’s Best Rock Album nominations, Brendan has been focusing on his critically acclaimed solo career. Having just released his seventh solo album, he gives us buoyant melodies and irrepressible hooks. Benson also invites the internet into his home studio with his weekly Youtube series which streams live every Thursday, a rock and roll legend not to be missed.
'Knocking out glistening radio rock records with more hooks than a Saw movie prop department' NME
'He's back to what he does best: pithily observed, sharply constructed power-pop' The Guardian
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
Michael Nyman is undoubtedly one of the UK’s most innovative and celebrated composers. His reputation is built upon a substantial body of work written for a wide variety of ensembles, not only for his own band, but also for symphony orchestra, choir and string quartet. In addition to his prolific output as a composer, Nyman is also a conductor, pianist, writer, musicologist, photographer and film-maker- his restless creativity and multi-faceted career making him one of the most dynamic and influential figures in contemporary culture.
London Afrobeat Collective
This 9-piece Afro-Funk noise bomb is fast becoming a household name in every European town who claims to know anything about a good party. Their live show can be a truly extraordinary experience for the audience who is ready to let go and surrender to the unstoppable force of the Groove, and people leave feeling they've run a marathon and had a spiritual awakening at the same time. From Europe to Africa, Glastonbury to ‘Felabration’*, they deliver party-music born of their truly global DNA.
Now a regular feature at many of the major UK festivals including Glastonbury, Bestival and Boomtown, as well as festivals and clubs across Europe, they are guaranteed party-starters - any stage, anywhere. Following their album release tour in October and November 2019, the new year will see them hitting the road through the UK and Europe again, bringing the funk to everyone who needs it so badly in these troubling times.
CoCo and the Butterfields
CoCo and the Butterfields are on a steady and unmistakable upward incline, developing an enviable reputation for their exhilarating live shows as their inclusive, acoustic-based sound has ripened to maturity. They’ve toured the island’s O2 Academy’s to sell out shows and appeared at Glastonbury, Isle of Wight and Bestival.
‘Expect folk-hewn pop, with gliding guitars and a strident vocal’ - Clash Music
'I’ve never seen (or heard) anything quite like it. CoCo and the Butterfields are back and they mean business' - musicriot.co.uk
A Truly Unique Offering
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