Following a sell-out 20th anniversary edition in 2023, lauded by press, fans and performers alike, Supersonic Festival have been spurred on by last year’s triumphs. Today, they make their initial lineup announcement, offering a weekend of phenomenal experimental and DIY music, welcoming some artists for the first time, as well as the return of festival favourites bringing new work to the stages. Tickets go on sale Friday 1st March at the links below. Among the first names for the festival Bonnie “Prince” Billy, The Body and Dis Fig, Emma Ruth Rundle Performing “Some Heavy Ocean,” Øxn, Senyawa and more.
Bonnie “Prince” Billy Photo Credit: Elsa Hansen Oldham
Buy tickets via https://www.supersonicfestival.com, and more to follow in the coming months.
Watch the aftermovie from 2023 here:
“We were blown away by the love and recognition we received last year when we celebrated 20 years since the inception of Supersonic festival. More so than ever, in these challenging and uncertain times, we are motivated with an urgency to seek out and champion the most important artists from the underground and to create opportunities for shared experiences with a program that can bring joy and unite us.”
– Lisa Meyer, Artistic Director and Festival co-founder
Supersonic Festival has always held Bonnie “Prince” Billy close to their hearts, and so it is a dream come true to host a set from him during the 2024 edition of the festival. He’s been at the forefront of DIY indie, folk and alt-country since the early 90s and has a consistently brilliant and prolific output. His work radiates with such emotional depth, no two performances are ever the same – and there won’t be a dry eye in the venue.
Following Lankum’s incredible performance at Supersonic’s 2023 edition and a shared mutual admiration for each other, Supersonic had to invite them back in other guises; ØXN and One Leg One Eye. ØXN (bringing together Radie Peat of Lankum, John ‘Spud’ Murphy and Eleanor Myler of Percolator and Katie Kim) digs deep into the earth and retrieves evocative tales of love, loss, longing, revenge and ritual. Add to that their other-worldly sonic textures that beckon you to peer behind the curtain, with your heart in your mouth. One Leg One Eye is the project of Ian Lynch (Lankum) that explores submerged leylines of music and song, drawing on the raw aesthetics of black metal, noise and drone, while also being deeply imbued with a sense of Irish history and myth.
“Last year I had the great honour of (finally) playing and attending Supersonic Festival for the first time. From the get go I felt an amazing energy and sense of community that brought me right back to all my favourite DIY punk and hardcore festivals over the years – something I have largely been missing with the bigger kind of festivals that Lankum plays these days. Environments like that don’t happen by accident and I left the festival with a huge sense of awe and respect for the organisers in making such an event possible. In the following days I told myself that I would come back every year as a punter no matter what, so imagine how delighted I was to be asked to come back this year and perform as One Leg One Eye! I can’t wait and already know that it’s going to be a highlight of my year.”
– Ian Lynch, Lankum, One Leg One Eye
The Supersonic 2024 edition explores a fascinating range of folk artists upending the traditions of the genre, including Scottish small pipes player and native Gaelic speaker Brìghde Chaimbeul who has carved a sonic space where tradition and minimalism meet. She captures live, the dense and wild landscape of her home through hypnotic drones and the ethereal drawl of her chosen instrument. One of the leading figures in Ireland’s burgeoning folk music renaissance known for his unconventional approach, John Francis Flynn masterfully unpicks traditional songs and rearranges them with an emotional force that sometimes leaves them un-anchored. LA-based harpist and composer, and one of today’s preeminent instrumental storytellers, Mary Lattimore invites us into a musical universe rich with memories, scenes, and split-second impressions.
Emma Ruth Rundle is an artist who creates delicate atmospheres which are imbued with an unparalleled emotional heft. She will return to her roots at this year’s festival, performing her debut album, Some Heavy Ocean, 10 years after its release. Some Heavy Ocean is a collection of impassioned, cathartic songs, exorcising the ghosts of one of life’s dark detours. Melancholic, but equally hopeful and devastatingly human, the album wears its emotions on its sleeve.
“I am delighted that I will finally be playing Supersonic fest this year; and in honour of the 10 year anniversary of Some Heavy Ocean, will be performing an intimate solo set that includes most of the album’s material. I love the supersonic community and am so thrilled to be part of this year’s most excellent line up.”
– Emma Ruth Rundle
Performing their debut collaborative music for the first time are The Body & Dis Fig – the perfect synthesis of two forces, twisting melodicism and intoxicating rhythms, layering a dense miasma of distortion with intense beats, and a soaring voice clawing its way towards absolution. Senyawa will also perform, who powerfully combine Indonesian tribal and primitive sounds with industrial music. Gazelle Twin makes a return to Supersonic in support of the new album, Black Dog – a plunge into darkness rooted in the theatrics of the séance and the phenomena of ghosts.
Supersonic relishes in presenting opportunities for communal catharsis through joyous, raucous metal and punk, and bringing high energy to this year’s edition are Melt-Banana with their unorthodox, unclassifiable, and utterly brilliant speed-of-light grindcore. Also playing are Agriculture (signed to The Flenser), whose sublime subversion of the black metal tropes evokes awe-inspiring sublimity. The None are a band comprising members of Blue Ruth, Youth Man, Bloc Party, Young Legionnaire, Cassels and Frauds, their uncompromising vision of noise rock with melody at its heart, channels the spirit of The Jesus Lizard, Silverfish and Unwound. The upcoming Atlanta five-piece Upchuck are a kinetic force of youth and enthusiasm, churning out brutally honest, boisterous tracks that blur the lines between psych rock, punk, and hardcore. What would Supersonic be without some down right dirge? This will be brought to audiences in the 2024 edition by The Shits with their sludgy amalgamation of guitar grit, trashy drums and UK82 era street punk growls.
Exploring ecstatic sounds of different proportions is Irish based Kurdish/Syrian singer and Bouzouki player Mohammad Syfkhan, whose sound takes elements from Middle Eastern and North African music to create an atmosphere of joy, love and happiness. Other explorers include Newcastle-Upon-Tyne’s Smote’s flute-and-drum-driven music, which conjures up a feeling of bleak magick, reaching for transcendence through repetition, and opening up uncanny new psychic pathways. Unable to perform last year, Supersonic Festival is delighted to invite MC Yallah x Debmaster back to the festival, bringing high energy performance and delivering her rapid and tightly controlled flow alongside futuristic hip-hop, grime, punk and trap with Debmaster.
More of the programme will be revealed in the coming months.
In the meantime, for further information about the artists + tickets visit: https://www.supersonicfestival.com
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