Live Review: Great Escape First Fifty - Studio 9294, London 17/11/2021
Ahead of their big Brighton bash in May next year, The Great Escape Festival put on a showcase of their first batch of announced artists. Across eight East London venues tonight, and online over the next few weeks, we can get a taste of their First Fifty exciting new acts to keep an eye out for over the coming months. We headed to the show at Hackney Wick’s Studio 9294, hosted by DIY, for a genre-spanning array of talent.
Local Londoners Daisy Brain open the night with some baggy no-nonsense grunge for the alternative youth. Showmanship is minimal, keeping it all about the loud guitars, furious drumming and wall to wall noise. Fronted by blue-haired, ripped-jeaned Will Tse, the blaring guitar-led four-piece have already toured with Yungblud, playing some huge stages like Alexandra Palace, and are starting to form a firm Gen-z fanbase around them.
Next up sees lo-fi future favorites Lime Garden take to the stage. They’re effortlessly cool in the midst of their stoic DIY, garagey arrangements, meanwhile between the tracks vocalist/guitarist Chloe Howard is engagingly awkward and witty. And then they have their forcefully dancier moments, like latest single “Clockwork” and the impossibly catchy set closer “Pulp”. Having self-released their initial few tracks from home in Brighton over lockdown, they’re now one of the first signings to the newly established label So Young Records, and inevitably are destined for big things.
Personality and soul oozes from the lungs of Birmingham's Sipho. Wise beyond his years, the 21 year-old was raised devotedly religious, where he found his heart in music, but now writes the silkiest R&B to bless your ears with. Newly signed to Dirty Hit records he released his EP And God Said… this summer. There's no façade onstage, he's a deeply emotional performer and a deeply earnest person with a humble appreciation of everyone around him - the band, the soundtech, the audience, he repeatedly asks for us to "give a round of applause for yourselves". With a dynamic magnetism as likeable as his, Sipho is a luxury to have in the room let alone to hear music from.
Headlining the night came down to the unique sounds of Priya Ragu. The Swiss-Tamil-born, London/Zurich resident melds European pop and R&B songwriting with South Asian beats and influences. Her music creates an ultimately infectious good energy and fills any room with colour and flair, no matter how small the venue. Another hugely captivating personality, her debut mixtape damnshestamil got her on many ones-to-watch lists and she's since featured on Jungle's latest album - a pretty promising year wouldn't you say.
It's been a night of exciting new things from every angle, and this was just one small selection of what the full Great Escape lineup has in store. 2022 is going to be another enthralling year for new music.
Words and Photography by Alice Jenner
