Its time to saddle up the bike and head over the beautiful South Downs hills in the winter sun to join the loyal regulars for one of SOURCE’s absolute favourite events of the year!
Ticket holders are early this year and the small psych room is totally full so we fight our way back through the traffic wardens (who are evilly ticketing band vans) and cram into Union Music Store for some slide blues and folk guitar from Linden Pomeroy. His playing is effortless and reminds us of the Hull troubadour Michael Chapman. That is high praise indeed. When Linden transfers to a 12 string his playing gets more angular and we hear a song named after the Leyak which he tells us is a “demon from Bali that eats babies and shit.”
It’s still one-in one-out at Union as Daisy Rickman starts with an old traditional song. Her voice is instantly captivating: so deep and full of character, like Sandy Denny singing for Pentangle. Truly perfect. SOURCE now has butterflies in our stomach. This is it. This is special. ‘Signpost To The Stars’, taken from soon-to-be-released new album ‘Howl’, is about loved ones in the stars who are no longer with us. It is beautiful. If the festival were to end now we’d be happy. Complex timeless songs full of true class and sophistication. Pete Wiggs from Saint Etienne squeezes closer to the front. SOURCE stops taking notes. The moment is now and it is not to be sullied with note-taking. ‘Alice’ snaps us from our reverie. Half-sung and half-spoken, it is a spectacular tale of wonder. Not only can she sing: this woman can play as well as Bert Jansch. Daisy finishes on a song she wrote the night before travelling to Sussex. Still getting to know the song, she falters in places, but with charm. We are witnessing someone still discovering their own music. You have been warned world, pay attention to this artist.
After a short break involving kebabs and an obligatory pint of Harvey’s, darkness has descended on Lewes. Not so the All Saints Centre, which looks as stunning as it does every year, thanks to the sterling work of Chris Innerstrings whose amazing oil filters and video projections make this event so special.
Then the nocturnal line-up begins with Plantoid. They are interestingly different. That could sound like the eternal damnation of faint praise, but it’s not meant to be. There is something refreshingly unique about this group, although some may find it a touch too challenging. They have a real groove underpinned by some high-quality musicianship and cracking filthy riffage. Their brand of complicated proggy jazzy heavy funk rock is quite unique at the moment and that’s a delight to these heard-it-all-before ears. They also look like they are having fun, particularly the guitarist and percussionist. Their debut album ‘Terrapath’ is about to be released on Bella Union. The ‘White Rabbity’ single ‘Pressure’ is a high point of the set, which takes the venue from near empty to rammed. As this year hopefully takes off for them the confidence is going to build and SOURCE aims to be along for that ride.
To complete the cut-out-and-keep set of references to sixties folk greats, Eliza Skelton takes to the stage in a more Fairport Convention fashion. Though her band are unquestionably a talented bunch of musicians, following the more riotous Plantoid is slightly unfair on them. Their dreaminess is in danger of getting lost, despite sounding lovely on debut album ‘The Lookerer’. There is lots to like but it doesn’t quite grab these ears, which are frankly in search of something more fun to celebrate the early end of Dry January. That is a shame given the actual quality of the music, and playing. They clearly sell some records after the show, maybe even more than any other artist at the festival, so perhaps it says more about this writer’s desire for a party.
Hutch on the other hand are definitely up for some fun. It’s the first time we’ve seen them since the departure of harp player Eva Lunny. Would the magic hold in the four-piece without the balancing influence of femininity and the interest created by having an unusual instrument within the line-up? Straight in with a wig-out that sets the tone, theirs is a dream pop set punctuated by extended gentle jams. ‘Radiator Centre’ is Monkees-style pop par excellence. Harmonies and clean guitar tones fly around each other as they extend the groove in tonight’s happy set. It’s almost like they are trying to out ‘67 San Francisco’ the Innerstrings light show. That’s fighting talk round here. On the penultimate song, ‘Sandworms’, something really clicks and they go up a level of intensity; every member clearly relishing the theatrical nature of the song and its performance.
At this point in the proceedings, SOURCE is very definitely getting into the spirit of things and the trusted iPhone notes app is getting a little blurry and hard to read. Luckily, Aircooled are here to save the day, with a jumping set of Neu!-loving krautrock sounds that are massively amped up for the free party rave generation. That is a good thing as a large section of the crowd are clearly old enough to remember Saturday night drives around the countryside armed with a party line number looking for those squelchy repetitive beats in the woods. It is no surprise that frontman Oliver was in Cooler during the Big Beat era while both Justin and Mew were in Britpop legends Elastica. They clearly care about putting on a show as they have both dressed up to perform and dressed the stage in their art. Consequently they up the ante on the spectacle in what is perhaps the most well received set of the festival, thanks to their infectious energy and confident stage presence. At one point on a new track they almost sound like a banging disco rave remix of ‘Jump’ by Van Halen. They close with bonafide party classic that is ‘Supermotodisco’.
The festival is then brought to a close by Fujiya & Miyagi. Strangely they are not a band this particular writer knows, despite the fact they’ve been around since 2002 and have released nine albums which successfully mix Talking Heads with post punk, krautrock, disco and old school rave (and have tracks such as ‘UH’ which have over 15,000,000 plays on Spotify). The show appears to be a greatest hits set drawn from all the eras of their 20-year career, as well it should given this is a festival headline slot. They kick off with the fruity ‘Knickerbocker’ before the acid synths of ‘Flaws’ which hark back to the Megadog era and bands like Fluke. Shapes are being thrown left right and centre, although frontman Dave Best doesn’t quite always seem happy with the stage sound. The set closes with the Giorgio Moroder sounds of ‘Serotonin Rushes’ and the dancey post punk of ‘Impossible Objects Of Desire’, both taken from their 2017 eponymous album.
Another very fine festival, but don’t tell everyone! It’s hard enough getting into the daytime stuff as it is! SOURCE, however, is definitely already counting the days to 2025.
Melting Vinyl and Innerstrings present: Lewes Psychedelic Festival
All Saints Center and Union Music Store
Saturday 27th January 2024
Words by Nick McAllister
Photos by Rob Orchard
