Every year, Cardiff hosts SWN Festival, a sprawling multi-venue festival showcasing some of Wales and the UK’s most anticipated new acts, alongside a plethora of established fan favourites.
With each venue amassing vast queues, the city was full of people flooding into each respective venue to experience the truly stacked line-up. To no one’s surprise, this was also a landmark year for SWN, being the first year this rising festival had fully sold out, with fans desperately awaiting to hear the next big song from one of the exciting upcoming talents on the lineup.
A rainy Thursday afternoon, and people started to feed in for a busy night with acts such as Shrink, Mould, Working Men’s Club and Little Grandad. This line-up contained a medley of styles and voicings, platforming indie, pop, alt rock and nothing but good music.
Throughout the weekend, the energy in each room greatly expanded. The community felt so strong come the end of the three days; you would recognise faces around the city and in the venues, cultivating the perfect, warm and homelike feel that so many fans seek from the familiarity of not only their beloved bands, but the shared experience of a new one.
I started my Thursday night with BETSAN, the first performance of the festival. She filled Tiny Rebel with a soulful sound and beautiful harmonies. There was already a big crowd, something that became all too familiar as the days ran on. Over the weekend, Tiny Rebel hosted some amazing acts such as the deeply ethereal FOOT FOOT, whose harmonies within the violin and guitar were simply hypnotising. This constant change of tempo created a very jazz-like atmosphere. Others, such as Turnspit, delivered a particularly haunting set; Maeve and The Joy Hotel all pitched in to create a very eclectic range for one venue.
I split most of my time between Fuel Rock Bar and Jacobs’ Basement; these two venues hosted some of my standout performances of the weekend. Cowboy Hunters on the Saturday afternoon drew in body after body into Fuel Rock Bar, with people pushing their way into any gap, standing on tiptoes to catch a glance at the duo onstage. Despite the band’s mixed reviews, I was drawn into the sheer lunacy as soon as they started, and their ability to laugh with the crowd only made the music more enjoyable.
Another highlight of the weekend was Schulg in Jacobs Basement, which slowly became my favourite venue. You can just feel the energy bouncing off the frontman, which only led to the crowd naturally opening the pit and moshing throughout the set. The energy in the room was just incredible, and the crowd undoubtedly left that set wired. I love when music, especially from a heavier band, just leaves you gasping for more, be it another riff, another pit, or another scorned vocal performance, and it goes without question that Schlug did exactly that.
Nation Unrest brought something drastically different, with a burst of drum and bass, but with the Fry screams and anxiously cascading vocals reminiscent of Bring Me the Horizon during the sempiternal era. As well as Good Health Good Wealth, with a classic indie sound, mixed with a bit of drum and bass, I thoroughly enjoyed their style and pacing, allowing for some much-needed respite after a weekend of running from venue to venue.
Spanish Horses had the downstairs of Clwb Ifor Bach filled to the brim, which led to a change of plans, leading me to see Die Twice at Fuel Rock Bar. Through broken strings and cut fingers, the band delivered an incredible set; the lead singer’s vocal range was something that left me in shock, with such a clean falsetto in their song ‘Paris,’ released this year, but such a good tone when the songs got heavier. This was the first band I looked up to listen to after the festival, hoping that their studio versions could replicate even an ounce of the sheer power that their live performance contained, and as a fairly new band, building up listeners and followers from live shows is of the utmost importance, and they have without a doubt achieved that.
The downstairs of Clwb was heaving the entirety of the festival, featuring performances from the likes of Lauren Auder, Dermot Henry, World News and Martial Arts. The latter of which was typical of the heavier indie sound going around at the moment, and definitely a must-see for fans of Tooth and Arkayla. World News leaned into a slightly more archaic and traditional indie sound, with a rich atmosphere, which wouldn’t be out of place in the montage of a coming-of-age classic. Many of the crowd were listening with their eyes closed, and the band thoroughly enjoyed themselves on stage, especially as their set dove straight into their fresh material being released as they ended.
Upstairs at Clwb was just as busy; I was constantly in awe of the sheer scope of differentiation, going from Working Men’s Club, who delivered a very intense set, to Little Grandad, who never disappoint with their perfectly interwoven, calming harmonies and elegant songwriting. They had fans singing along to ‘Sleepwalking’ and dancing throughout the show.
I spoke to a fan called Alex after the festival, who said that at this moment in time, music is the most exciting it’s been since the mid-90s. He and his daughter had seen Little Grandad at a few shows in the UK; they both stood out to me in the crowd. They were listening with so much intent and genuine joy for the music that was happening. Me and Alex both agreed that connection to the music and the people around you is so important both of us having made friendships through music, and everyone in the room sharing the same passion for something.
I ended the festival at Tramshed with Dove Ellis and Westside Cowboy, who were easily the most anticipated performance of the weekend. I had been trying to see Dove Ellis for a while but always managed to miss them, so to finally see them live was such a seminal experience. The whole band put on such a tantalising show, with all members playing multiple instruments such as acoustic guitar, saxophone, violin, bass, piano, and even a harmonica, which, in my opinion, makes any song better. Dove Ellis’ voice and lyricism were immeasurably impressive, drawing similarities to Matt Maltese and Cameron Winter. This set was the one I was most excited for, and it was by far my favourite of the weekend.
To close out my weekend, my final band was Westside Cowboy. Given the size of their crowd at Truck Festival earlier this year, I made sure to get there early to beat the crowds. You could just feel the elation in the room the moment they started; every single person in that room was existing in the same space simply to sing along and bounce around. The vocals and the guitar riffs stay in your head days after, and the crowd was just fantastic; the silence during the opening of ‘Strange Taxidermy’ was particularly mesmerising. The band played a shortened, faster version that worked really well, keeping the pace of the rest of the set but still a breath in between Pin Up Boys and Kick Stones (The Boys).
The band is something special. In such an oversaturated market, they have managed to create such a unique sound not just in instrumentation but in lyricism and vocal performance. The whole crowd left their set on a complete high, creating the picture-perfect, storybook ending to a vast and expansive festival teeming with talent and over-boiling in variation.
To see what may be in store for the next instalment of SWN will likely have countless music fans, and myself, eagerly anticipating another weekend of musical connection through the wonderful scene SWN are creating in South Wales.
