Connie Constance - Let Go (The Biggest Weekend)

This is Connie Constance performing the brooding 'Let Go' on the BBC Introducing stage at The Biggest Weekend festival in 2018. You can watch part one of her session for We Transfer and Giles Peterson here.

Fantasy Festival number 15: The Lineup

Becky and The Birds: Becky and The Birds is the nom de plume of Swedish singer, songwriter and producer Thea Gustafsson. She released a self titled EP in 2018 and, since signing to 4AD, has released three singles. Were it not for the pandemic, she would be touring now. You can find out more here.

Birch: Birch, aka Michelle Birsky (not to be confused with the singer/songwriter Diane Birch or Gina Birch of the Raincoats) is an NYC based singer and songwriter who makes quietly political observational guitar and synth based music. Her debut album, femme.one, was released in 2019 and included the single 'Spelling Lessons'. You can find out more here.

Connie Constance: Watford singer songwriter and poet Connie Constance released her debut album, English Rose, last year. She has been described as 'indie soul' and early single 'Clouds' certainly promised much. She has been steadily building up her sound since then, as well as gigging and writing extensively. One to watch. You can find her on Insta.

Overcoats: NYC based synth pop/soul duo Overcoats released their second album, The Fight, back in March. Even they recognised it wasn't a great moment to be bringing a new album into the world, but they decided to go ahead anyway in the hope that the album might provide comfort for a few people in an uncertain world. They have a knack for bending genres and singing the unsayable. You can find out more about them here.

Phoebe Bridgers: Los Angeles Singer songwriter Phoebe Bridgers, as well as being an accomplished artist in her own right, has worked extensively with Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus (as Boygenius) and with Conor Oberst (as Better Oblivion Community Center). Solo single 'Kyoto' has been something of an indie rock summer hit, and it's taken from her new album Punisher. You can find out more here.

Basia Bulat: Canadian singer songwriter Basis Bulat has her roots in folk but she's also highly capable of making sparkling classic pop as well, as her 2016 album Good Advice will attest. Her most recent album, Are You In Love? was a more sprawling affair, but well received nonetheless. You can find out more here.

Chvrches: Glasgow's Chvrches make sometimes dreamy, often beautiful, many times frenetic, synth pop. Their most recent album, Love Is Dead, was released in 2018. You can find out more here.

Lorde: Auckland's premier electro pop star seemed recently to be gently teasing us by changing her Twitter handle to 'Did Lorde release an album today?' the answer, so far, is No. On the basis of her previous two albums, Pure Heroine, and Melodrama, album number three should be worth the wait. You can find out more here.

Connie Constance | Stars - Live at Adidas Futurehouse || GUAP

This is Connie Constance performing 'Stars' live at Adidas Futurehouse. There are other lives clips available online, but full sets are in short supply. I do recommend you watch the video to last years single 'Clouds' though. 

Fantasy Festival #5: The Florence Festival - Lineup

Connie Constance: Connie Constance is a London based singer/songwriter who originally trained to be a dancer, became a poet, and then moved into song. The single she recorded with Jelani Blackman, 'Clouds', reflects this combination of poetry and song. She was tipped by ID as a future soul star in their Class of 2016 piece. She played the Afropunk festival in London late last month.

Georgia: Former footballer and drummer for Kate Tempest, Georgia released her 'post punky hip hop soul' debut album in 2015. She played a number of festivals in 2016, including British Summer Time and Eurosonic, and has just released a new E.P 'Feel It'. She has just played LeeFest, and will be playing Lost Village festival later this month. 

Speech Debelle: Mercury Music prize winner Speech Debelle is a London based rapper and social activist who makes understated, multi layered, narrative urban survival music. She has released two albums and, last year, a self released EP. She is currently touring the UK and is playing Shamabala Festival and Greenbelt Festival in late August. 

Overcoats: Overcoats are a folkatronic or 'folk-soul' duo from New York whose music has been likened to Simon & Garfunkel. They released their debut album earlier this year and are touring the US throughout the summer and autumn. They would have played at all three of the Dot To Dot festivals in late May, but pulled out in the wake of the Manchester Arena bombing.

Kate Tempest: Musician. Novelist. Poet. Playwright. There is seemingly nothing Londoner Kate Tempest cannot do. She headlined The Great Escape in 2015, "moved people to tears at Glastonbury 2017", and was the guest director at Brighton Festival in May. Her current, extremely timely, album Let Them Eat Chaos was released in 2016. She is playing a large number of festivals this summer.

Angel Olsen: Angel Olsen is a singer/songwriter from St Louis, Missouri. She began her musical career with Will Oldham (Palace Brothers, Palace Music) but her 2014 debut took her away from alt. country territory and into dark indie rock. 2016's My Woman married folky strumming to Velvet Underground infused guitar pop and garage rock distorted vocal stomping, all with a dash of eighties synth pop and sixties girl group melodies. It gained fans amongst the staff at Piccadilly Records in Manchester, Florence Welch, and Helen McCookerybook, amongst others. Angel is currently touring Europe, including the UK, and will be touring the US throughout the autumn. Her date at Green Man festival next week has sold out. 

Cat Power: Cat Power, aka Chan Marshall, from Atlanta, Georgia, has been making music since the early 1990s. Her early work featured choppy guitar work and raw vocals. She then went through a slow, minimalist phase, a critically acclaimed soul phase, and has in recent years emerged as a full blown soul electronica artist with anthems such as 'Cherokee' and 'Ruin'. She played a US date last week, but it looks as though no other dates are planned at the moment.

Florence + The Machine: Londoner Florence Welch formed Florence + The Machine in 2007. The name derives from the stage names Welch and keyboardist Isabella Summers gave themselves when writing songs together as teenagers: Florence Robot and Isa Machine. The bands first appearance at Glastonbury in 2007 was later described by Welch as "A complete shambles" and comprised of a muddied, sleep deprived and tearful Florence singing her set acapella until her guitarist arrived. These days, ten years and three albums down the line, Florence + The Machine are a veritable orchestra (there were twelve of them at the last count), no strangers to the festival circuit in the UK, US and Europe, and have headlined Latitude in 2010, Glastonbury in 2015, and British Summer Time in 2016. The band are not currently touring.

Connie Constance - Clouds ft. Jelani Blackman