When Sea Change Festival springs up to take over the historic market town of Totnes, south Devon, this August Bank Holiday Weekend, 25 and 26 August, it will bring an exemplary music line-up. Temples, Jane Weaver, Blanck Mass, Daniel Brandt, Amber Arcades and Aldous Harding are a few highlights of a music line-up that is remarkable for an event in only its second year.
Now, Sea Change is pleased to confirm more of the events and speakers that will complement the musical performances along a string of venues in the town.
On Thursday 24th August, before the festival begins in earnest, Sea Change will throw a special launch party at venue Unit 23. Headlining the party will be electronic music performer and producer, Gold Panda. The party is free to ticket holders, but places are limited so please RSVP at www.seachangefestival.co.uk/launch-party
Bert Jansch’s 1797 ornithology-themed LP, ‘Avocet’, will be celebrated by an exclusive live performance by Trembling Bells and Modern Studies. The Sea Change event coincides with the release by London’s Trembling Bells label of new EP ‘Avocet Revisited’, featuring both Trembling Bells and Modern Studies.
Between them, music writers and journalists Laura Barton and Laura Snapes encompass the likes of The Guardian, Pitchfork, Mojo, Q and NME. At Sea Change they will lead talks and discussions; the former discussing her beautiful BBC Radio 4 series, Notes From A Musical Island, in which she travelled all over the country tracking down the music attached to all sorts of landscapes; the latter will share her observations of life as a music obsessive and also chair a panel discussion about feminism and opportunities in music journalism.
Cocteau Twins member and head of Bella Union records, Simon Raymonde and Erased Tapes label founder, Robert Raths, will be at the centre of Q&A sessions celebrating significant milestones – Bella Union turns 20 this year and Erased Tapes is a sprightly 10 years old.
In April, after consistently strong interest from established and rising talent in and around Devon, Sea Change ran a Rising Talent competition. After a fierce battle, extremely loud Falmouth garage three-piece, Tinned Fruit, emerged triumphant and have gone straight onto the festival line-up.
Totnes’s much-loved Bay Horse Inn will host a Sea Change Beer & Cider Festival, pouring a bewildering array of pale, red, blonde and golden ales, stouts and bitters. Community craft brewery, New Lion (trading in Totnes for nearly 200 years) and the family-run Totnes Brewing Co will brew Sea Change beers especially for the festival.
Chef Patrick Hanna of London’s Rochelle Canteen, Duck Soup and most recently L’Entrepot, will create a special pop-up bar, serving his own explosive street cocktails and street markets will fill the market square.
Gypsy Jazz guitar pioneer and Dartington College of Art graduate, Toby Morgan, will perform and also discuss his music and the Gypsy Jazz guitar resurgence, alighting on the man who started it all, Django Reinhardt and his band Quintette du Hot Club de France.
Just a taste of the Sea Change line-up:
Headliners Temples, whose new new LP, Volcano, shows a significant broadening of the band’s sound; psychedelically melodic Jane Weaver, whose just-released new LP Modern Kosmology is the subject of rave reviews; the engrossing electronic music of Blanck Mass; the swooping jingle-jangle of Amber Arcades; gripping vocal chameleon and New Zealand folk artist, Aldous Harding; explosive multi-instrumentalist Daniel Brandt; and Danish noise-popsters LOWLY.
Full Lineup: TEMPLES, BLANCK MASS, JANE WEAVER, GOLD PANDA, RYLEY WALKER, ALDOUS HARDING, JULIE BYRNE, NADIA REID, DANIEL BRANDT & ETERNAL SOMETHING, AMBER ARCADES, LOWLY, MASAYOSHI FUJITA, HEY COLOSSUS, VENN, WILL STRATTON, H HAWKLINE, GIRL RAY, THE PROPER ORNAMENTS, CHRIS FORSYTH AND THE SOLAR MOTEL BAND, MICHAEL CHAPMAN, GRUMBLING FUR, HOLLY MACVE, DOUGLAS DARE, SEX SWING, GULP, VIRGINIA WING, THE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY, DEATH AND VANILLA, JIM GHEDI, RATS ON RAFTS, THE ORIELLES, TREMBLING BELLS, MODERN STUDIES, ILL, MAI MAI MAI, WOVOKA GENTLE, TOURISTS AND W H LUNG.
Founded by Totnes’s innovative and much-loved-in-the-south-west-and-far-beyond record shop, Drift Records, Sea Change will find its way into the beautiful Barrel House Ballroom overlooking the High Street and Totnes Castle; the self-proclaimed ‘home of live music in South Devon’, Unit 23; the 1960s Civic Hall; the 17th-century Birdwood House (home of the Babbage family before the birth of computer pioneer Charles); and perhaps most impressively, the 15th-century St Mary’s Church.
The beautifully restored Totnes Cinema (originally the Victorian Temperance Hall) will screen exclusive films and programmes selected by guest curators; DJs will find a spectacular home in the walled garden in the shadow of Totnes Castle.
As for accommodation, Totnes and the surrounding area are full of modern, traditional and unusual places to stay, with an abundance of B&Bs, hotels and guest rooms ready to book for the weekend. And festival camping is a treat: on the beautiful 14th-century Dartington Estate, a 20-minute stroll along the River Dart – or a Sea Change shuttle bus ride if you need a helping hand after a big night. And Sea Change is as good an excuse as any to explore the beautiful coastline and countryside of South Devon; the Blue Flag Blackpool Sands beach, Dartmoor National Park and any amount of hills, cliffs and river valleys, nature reserves, coastal and rural towns and villages are easily found.
Find out more here: https://www.seachangefestival.co.uk/