Dublin four-piece Girl Band are one of the most exciting new acts to emerge from 2014 and undoubtedly, their gig at The Portland Arms on 10 June is our top pick for the month. Girl Band does not contain any girls. They are a four-piece in their late teens/early 20s, wet behind the ears, and they play music that does not fit comfortably under one genre.
John Grant is embarking on a nationwide tour this summer, including a stop at Cambridge Junction on 25 June. Grant, a Denver-born solo artist, is former lead vocalist with The Czars, a band whose music fluctuated between shoegaze, dream pop and alternative country. He released his debut solo album Queen of Denmark in 2010, and the follow-up, Pale Green Ghosts, was released last year and is a brilliant listen, filled with sparse electronics, black humour and rich stories full of wisdom and personal misery.
PAWS will release their second album, Youth Culture Forever on 2 June and kick-start the accompanying album tour in Cambridge, playing The Portland Arms on 2 June.
Multi-instrumentalist and singer/ songwriter Mark Oliver Everett brings his band EELS to the Corn Exchange on the 18th. The latest album from EELS, The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett is an extraordinarily vivid and intimate document of a personal struggle, with some real tear-jerker moments on the record. Whilst the stripped-down and lightly orchestrated album is a fresh release, we’d imagine the Corn Exchange show will draw on moments from all of EELS’ 20-year back catalogue.
Considered one of the most creative, prolific singers in the UK, Bella Hardy brings her band The Midnight Watch to the Cambridge Junction on 21 June, as she celebrates her 30th birthday, visiting 30 of her favourite venues. Four-time nominee at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, and winner of Best Original Song in 2012 for The Herring Girl, Hardy’s songs range in subject matter from fairy tales to working class history, via childhood nostalgia, myth, murder and the human condition.
One is an acclaimed singer-songwriter, the other an accomplished drummer and percussionist: Catherine Feeny & Chris Johnedis are a collaboration that experiments in classic songwriting and exhilarating polyrhythms. The duo play The Portland Arms on 17 June with support from The Little Unsaid and Dave Gerard.
Gary Numan is preparing for his debut Sonisphere appearance with a run of live dates, which includes a performance at Cambridge Junction on 24 June. After rising to fame in 1978 as the first ever ‘synthesiser star’ with Tubeway Army, Numan topped the UK Charts with Are Friends Electric? and Cars, and achieved three amazing successive number one albums. Numan has continued to mine a rich artistic vein with heavy, electronic rock.
The best complete line-up of the month takes place at the Corner House on 20 June with Alicia Catling, Horse Party and Bloody Knees all playing a multi-genre night with sounds spanning from yearning folk and garage punk to blues. Looking forward, New Zealand indie electronic ensemble The Naked and Famous return to the Cambridge Junction on 1 July. The five-piece make driving, melodic pop with an 80s post-punk influence.
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