News: Glastonbury Festival announce the Emerging Talent Competition 2019 Longlist

Glastonbury Festival have announced the Longlist for this year’s Emerging Talent Competition. The Longlist is a list of 90 different musical acts who have been selected by a panel of judges from the thousands of acts that entered this year.

I’m one of a panel of 30 judges, made up of online music writers, that helped select the acts who go through to the next round. Each judge is hand selects just three artists, with the overall Longlist of 90 ultimately being further whittled down by the festival organisers to just eight finalists, who will all perform live in next month’s finals.

You can see the full list and listen to a playlist including music from most on the Longlist over on the Glastonbury Festival website.

The three artists I chose were JacobNeverhill, Kudu Blue and Jen Simmonds. I’ve included the track I judged from each band below, together with a very brief description of why they stood out for me.

JacobNeverhill

JacobNevrhill

JacobNeverhill creates emotionally vulnerable R&B with beautiful, sophisticated production that lets the songwriting really shine in a way that has led to crossover success for the likes of Miguel.

The song I judged isn’t currently available publicly but the video below is a great demonstration of what made me think JacobNeverhill’s talent deserved recognition.

Kudu Blue

Kudu Blue

Kudu Blue blend melancholic vocals with sophisticated and soulful house music to create something that feels undoubtedly modern whilst drawing on three decades of dance music… The result is a little like the xx collaborating with John Talabot, that is to say, excellent.

Jen Simmonds

Jen Simmonds

Jen Simmonds captures a blissful dreamlike state on the spectral yet grungy One In A Million… A shoegaze wall-of-sound that feels like the soundtrack to a time when you have been untethered from your day-to-day reality and instead have become lost in all the things we hold close in our inner lives.

Good luck in the next round to JacobNeverhill, Kudu Blue and Jen Simmonds!

Listen: Angel Dust - Eden Warsaw

Eden Warsaw are a Toronto-based four-piece band who create dream-like experimental alternative music. Angel Dust is the band’s first single in 2019 and precedes their forthcoming 13-track LP Calm The Coast (not to be confused with their EP of the same name, released last year).

Angle Dust is a song that captures the sense of having an epiphany - a moment of enlightenment. The song is about experiencing the beauty and joy that surrounds you, whilst also wanting to find the words that enable you to describe and share what you feel. Bewilderment at the majesty of the simple things that make up our everyday existence.

Musically Angel Dust captures this feeling by leaning into a weightless, trance-like state. Innocent, intimate vocals float atop a simple but propulsive beat as a series of layered melodies build around the song’s gentle structure. It’s in some ways simple, but also packed with an incredible sense of feeling and atmosphere.

Listen: Time - Sophia Bel

Time is the new song from Montreal via Quebec City musician Sophia Bel, her first single since 2017. Having grown up in the early 2000s, Bel's youth tracked its way through skate-punk and emo. Whilst her music is inspired by electro-pop and trip-hop, dosed with an overwhelming sense of melancholy.

Time is released along with Bel’s announcement of her debut EP, Princess of the Dead. Describing the new single she said:

“Time really set the tone for the EP. It felt like the beginning of a fantasy that later transcended into the 3 other songs of this record. The mood is blue, with visions of a windy coast in a sunny paradise. The energy is dreamy and nostalgic. What inspired the lyrics was my difficulty to let my guard down. I was listening to a lot of trip-hop at the time and the artist that rubbed of on me the most in this one is Moby.”

You can definitely hear Moby’s influence in the gently unfurled piano on Time, but there is also a real late-90s / early-00s feel to that basic bouncy electronic bass sound. Sophia’s vocals are the star of this piece though... They manage to capture the somewhat damaged feel of Portishead whilst creating their own distinctive, haunted sound. It’s a little bit like a 90s trip-hop piece through the lens of modern alternative R&B.

Watch: U.N.I. - Mating Ritual

U.N.I. Is the new single from Mating Ritual, an indie pop duo from LA. Previously working as Pacific Air, Ryan Marshall Lawson created Mating Ritual as a solo project when his brother Taylor decided to go back to school. Over time, Mating Ritual become more collaborative however, and the brothers realised they missed making music together. The result is an old partnership but with a (relatively) new name.

With a five-albums-in-five-years plan, Mating Ritual are already on their third album, Hot Content, which is due for release on 10 May on Ryan’s own label Smooth Jaws.

U.N.I. is shiny like a diamond and glossy like satin - a slightly tongue-in-cheek reimagining of pop that calls to mind Chromeo. With a sexually charged atmosphere, the track ultimately feels aloof, or in denial... the equivalent of 10cc’s I’m Not In Love, only instead of repeating a lie, U.N.I. buries the truth by single it with a matter-of-fact coolness, dancing through a heartbreak. The video is also interesting and visually impressive - a great accompaniment to the song itself.

Watch: Loyal - Jasmine Thompson

Loyal is the new track from London musician Jasmine Thompson. Born of a Chinese mother and an English father, Thompson brings the influence of her upbringing into her music:

“Having one immigrant parent always provides a unique perspective growing up, a sense of one foot in two different worlds.”

Loyal is the first of three singles Thompson worked on with well known musician, songwriter and producer Eg White. The song is actually focused on the relationship that ended just before Thompson reunited with White, but when she started working on the song a year previously, Loyal described the trust issues Thompson experienced in that same relationship. “We didn’t trust each other, and as it turned out, we both had good reason”, says Thompson before adding a barbed post-script, “Also, he owes me £600”.

The final track captures that feeling of things not quite connecting in the right way in a relationship, despite the effort you and the other person might put in. There is a loose, jazzy feel to Loyal, Thompson’s vocal harmonies shining amongst a melody initial feels tenative but ultimately soars. As the song hints towards the end, after everything, Thompson still feels a sense of loyalty:

“I’m still loyal to the person I met at the beginning, who made me really excited and gave me butterflies.”

You can check out the video for Loyal below: