Our legendary weekly festival season, every Tuesday from June to September, with viral songwriters Meadowlark, rising star Only Girl, and acoustic maestro Amy Wawn.
MEADOWLARK
Delicate, emotional, yet current and powerful songs, delivered beautifully from the minds of two incredible musicians, Meadowlark are nothing short of incredible.
Meadowlarks debut single ‘Eyes Wide’ in 2015 was added to BBC Radio 1’s Introducing playlist, XFM’s evening playlist and featured on Hype Machine’s Top 20. This lead to sessions on Dermot O’Leary’s BBC Radio 2 show, playing Glastonbury’s Introducing stage as well as the Alt Escape, MAMA festival in Paris, Dot to Dot. The song also appeared on episodes of Vampire Diaries and Made in Chelsea.
In 2016 Meadowlark were embraced into the UK touring circuit to support the release of their 2nd EP ‘Paraffin’ and the incredibly well received most recent single ‘Headlights’. Their summer Bushstock performance in 2016 received a glowing review from Popped Music who said “their vocals never ever miss a note and you could hear a pin drop”.
The bands debut album was released this year through Believe Records and their recent tour across the UK sold incredibly well, with sell outs in Bristol and London.
“Awash with shimmering seams of emotion and rich electronic tones” The Line Of Best Fit
ONLY GIRL
Only Girl is the pseudonym of Ellen Murphy, a soulful young artist emerging from the DIY music scene of South East London. Thursday 5th April sees the release of her new single - the title track from her debut EP - ‘Bittersweet’, on Lemon Records; supported by the PRS Foundation Momentum fund.
The Bittersweet EP also features previous singles Mountain & Fall ft. James Vickery, featuring on Spotify New Music Friday UK, The Independent, Notion, BBC Entertainment & BBC Introducing.
Bittersweet is a swirl of soulful R&B harmonies, with heart-aching lyrics set over a warm bed of rich organ sounds and bassy beats.
Produced by long term collaborator Henry Binns (Zero 7), Ellen explains, “I wrote Bittersweet during a difficult time in my life, when I was trying to adjust and adapt myself to huge changes. Following on from writing Mountain about my boyfriend suffering a brain injury, Bittersweet was about us re-entering the real world, trying to adjust and adapt to the huge difference we faced in our life Despite his recovery, it was incredibly hard to accept the different course that our lives had taken - ‘Who knew I’d see, this life, it could be so Bittersweet’ and I realised that one of the only things that could keep me going was the love and support of the people around me. I wanted to write a song that could reach out to anyone who had gone through a challenging time in life, to make them feel uplifted and ultimately bring the message that the power of love can sometimes be the only thing to pull us through ‘Love is all I need”
Only Girl recently travelled to Austin, Texas to promote the EP and play at the prestigious SXSW festival in Texas, her debut show in the US, with the trip being supported by the PRS International Showcase fund.
To date she has released several independent singles, gaining widespread support across BBC Introducing, Spotify, BBC Radio 1 & Radio 2, BBC6 Music and online tastemakers including The Fader, Notion, Clash, Mahogany & Red Bull Music.
The past 18 months have seen her feature on releases with Zero 7, Kultur, Kitty Cash's Love the Free mixtape, her debut performance on UK TV on The Nightly Show (ITV), and playing sold out headline shows in London at the Courtyard Theatre & The Borderline
She's currently working on new music for release later on in the year.
“Crafting gorgeous, understated pop tunes with just a touch of R&B”
- The 405
“The South London-based singer-songwriter will win you over” - FADER
“Aching, soul-imbued pop” - Clash
AMY WAWN
Amy Wawn is a musician and singer-songwriter from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. As a solo performer, Amy’s style ranges from lively foot-stomping folk rhythms to the dirty-delicious sounds of delta blues on the slide guitar, accompanied by a dark, brooding vocal range, lilting melodies and thoughtful lyrics.
Amy studied piano from a young age, and began learning guitar and violin in her teens. After being accepted to the University of Cape Town for a music degree, she decided to take a break from classical training and instead studied a degree in languages and translation whilst focusing more on the guitar and songwriting. She began performing in her hometown of Bulawayo after a brief stint of travelling on her own and working her way around Europe in 2014. Over the last three years, Amy has performed at several major festivals and events around Zimbabwe both as a solo act, and in a trio consisting of percussionist Nigel Mzingaye (Mzie) and electric guitarist Jonathan Wise.
Amy is now living and performing full time as a solo artist in Camden Town, London. She released her debut EP The Suspects in February 2018 in collaboration with exquisitely talented violinist, Georgina Leach.
ABOUT THIS EVENT
Since our first season in 2013, our event at Dalston Eastern Curve Garden has always inspired audiences in a unique and thrilling way. This season of events captures the essence of a weekend rural festival in the centre of Dalston on a Tuesday evening.
The phenomenal surrounds of the garden combine with delicious pizzas from David Latto, and a supreme and ever-evolving roster of acts, to create a magical atmosphere which brings people together in a friendly and welcoming space.
It's a community of music-lovers, summer-lovers and life-lovers, brought together to celebrate the warm months in a carefree and supportive atmosphere, with a compelling live soundtrack.
