Where's me jumper?
The thing about big festivals these days is that it’s always raining. As much as I love getting lost in a field in the English countryside for three days, I don’t really like standing in a tent, dripping wet, trying to convince myself that I’m having fun, and that my hundreds of pounds worth of ticket has not been ruined by some clouds.
Now in its second year, Bushstock is a one day festival based in Shepherds Bush which was set up by Communion records, a label part run by Mumford and Sons member Ben Lovett. Communion started as a live thing in 2006, primarily as a way of exposing and supporting new and unheard folk music. They now have a hand in everything, from releasing albums and compilation records of their own artists to putting on gigs not only all around the UK but as far away as Sydney and New York.
Set in four uniquely different venues around Shepherd’s Bush Common, the festival is a broad mix of signed and unsigned acts, both local and international. And it’s under £30 for a ticket, and I can get the bus home. Nice.
It’s a shame that the whole of the Common is currently dug up and looking like a building site, as I’m sure it would have been a great natural chill out / meeting point. Instead, it looks as if everyone has jammed their way into the Defectors Weld for a few early pints, and I squeeze in for Rae Morris. A softly spoken girl with a giant mop of curly hair, it’s when she is at her most minimal that Rae’s personality comes through. Children are allowed in all the venues until six, so it’s nice to see a real mix or young and old in the crowd. It gets so busy at one point that there are children clinging to the window ledges for prime viewing spots.
I’m slowly working out what the different venues have to offer, and when I get to the Ginglik, I get the feeling that they play a huge part in the festival’s personality. Oh Burgundy literally suck me into the pitch black atmosphere, creating a haunting mood that leaves us all with our heads swimming. This is movie soundtrack music, and I can imagine births and deaths being played out to their haunting sounds.
Gabriel and the Hounds and are such a perfect follow up to Oh Burgundy that they could almost be the same band split in two. The Hounds up the tempo a notch but still manage to make their set seem as intimate and special as the previous band. Theirs is a brighter sound with an ability to overwhelm, and the songs sit perfectly on a fence between being deep and personal, and playful and catchy. It’s as if we’ve been let inside Gabriel’s mind for half an hour to have a poke around.
Folk musicians seem to be saving money by hiring multi-talented band members, as in people who can play two instruments at the same time. Throughout the day I see a trumpeter playing keyboards, a drummer playing synth, and another drummer playing bass. I’ve also seen partying Belgians, artists drawing on trainers, and people in wheelchairs raving it up.
Introduced as what we’ve all been waiting for, the lights in St Stephens Church go out, bathing the stage in soft purple light. Everything about Daughter is delicate; singer Elena’s deftly finger-picked guitar playing lays down a soft bed for her gentle lullabies, and it encourages my mind to drift. It’s easy to let your thoughts wander, and the beauty lies in its open invitation for you to apply the ghostly melodies to whatever happens to be on your mind and take the chance to clear your head.
I’m on my own and quite glad, as I can’t imagine having to hold a conversation after this. Apparently there’s an after party, but it’s somewhere far away. Maybe in another world that I’m no longer a part of...
Photo by Tamara Uzeirovic
http://www.bushstock.co.uk/
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