Bushstock 2013 - Preview

With London’s Camden Crawl taking a holiday (moving to Dublin but bizarrely retaining its Camden Crawl name) there’s a possible gap in the market for other multi-venue festivals in the UK’s capital. One such event is Communion Record’s one day event Bushstock which returns for its third year on June 1st.

Bushstock doesn’t sprawl itself over the city like other multi-venue events do, instead it keeps things compact with just four venues in South-West London three of which, St Stephen’s Church,  The Defectors Weld and Ginglik return from last year plus new addition Bush Hall replacing Shepherds Bar. All venues are within a short walking distance of each other.

Being a Communion Records event it’s unsurprising to find that Bushstock leans heavily in a folky / singer songwriter direction although this year’s line-up also includes a good smattering of indie guitar bands. Playing this year you’ll find the likes of Willy Mason, Theme Park, Dutch Uncles, Marika Hackman, Ethan Johns, Post War Years, Josh Weller, Thumpers and George Ezra. If synth pop and electronica is your only thing it's probably best avoided though.

Today we’re giving our recommendations of five of the lesser known acts on the bill that if you’re going it may well worth be giving your consideration to.

Young War

Manchester’s Young War will be providing a slice of acoustic soul at Bushstock. With just two demos (Rose Gold and Say That It’s Love) on line this very new act has been described by Rockfeedback as Prince meets Ryan Adams. He's also garnered the twitter thumbs up treatment from Theo Hutchcraft of Hurts. Now we’re doing the same.

Sivu

What do musicians do to actually make money these days? It seems that Sivu works in a call centre in Waterloo, which is a shame because with such magical songs such as Better Man Than He Sivu really should be making and performing songs full time. Sounding a little like Wild Beasts duelling gently with Alt-J, it can’t be long before Sivu jumps ship from the monotony of the scripted phone conversation.



Fyfe

Not to be confused with Fyfe Dangerfield, lead singer of the Guillemots, Fyfe is Paul Dixon, previously known as David’s Lyre between 2010 and 2012. With a new name and new musical project he’s already had huge Hype Machine / online hits with the songs Solace, St Tropez and Lies. Fyfe is one of those acts that makes the undercard of this festival even more intriguing than the bigger names. St Tropez (streaming below) is the tastiest peach of a tune.

Rosie Carney

Rosie Carney is a 16 year old singer songwriter from Donegal, Ireland (although she originally hails from Breaking More Waves very own English county of Hampshire). She follows the ever growing number of young types who seem more at home picking up an acoustic guitar than an electric one, being more Marling than Muse. Her acoustic songs such as What You Have Been Looking For (below) and When You Stole A Kiss are exceptionally lovely.



Kimberley Anne

Kimberley Anne plays accessible acoustic pop and declares that “I’m left handed like Hendrix but can’t play like him.” Kimberley Anne is getting her name in all the right places, having recently played both Great Escape and Live at Leeds as well as supporting Lewis Watson. Her sound is like a confident easy on the ear Tracy Chapman with heartfelt lyrics.

Breaking More Waves will be reviewing Bushstock in our usual here's some things we learnt style very soon after the event.