Skydaddy Presents
Smith Square Hall
Skydaddy presents a selection of some of London’s brightest and best songwriters, performing their ‘Works in Progress’ – stripped back, scaled down sets of tracks from their vaults, as-yet unreleased and untested.
Smith Square Hall, one of the finest examples of Baroque architecture in the city, will be transformed into an intimate gig-space – just a Steinway piano and an acoustic guitar set to candlelight.
Caulk
No one had heard of Caulk until he arrived to the last Works in Progress night and stunned the audience into silence – he’s not on socials, and has nothing online, so turn up to hear what he’s been working on…
Charlie Keen
Charlie Keen is trombonist in KEG, a band that veers “both into the angular throb of contemporary post-rock and the timeless necessities of meticulous, melodic songwriting: a push-pull which drives many of their songs.” They recently released their debut EP Assembly, and have toured the UK extensively, bringing their enthralling live shows to the masses, and sharing stages with the likes of Squid, PVA, and Charles Hayward. Listen to their song Kids below.
Felix Stephens
Felix is a freelance cellist and performer, who has recorded and performed with artists including Geordie Greep, Ethan P. Flynn, and Jockstrap. You can hear one of his songs – Alaska, played with the Geordie Greep ‘New Sound’ Band – in the video link below.
heka
heka is the musical project of multidisciplinary artist and singer-songwriter Francesca Brierley, based in London. Deeply intimate and awash with melancholia, her style of lo-fi warmth incorporates snippets of conversations previously buried deep within the notes of her phone, blending quotidian murmurings of life with grander themes of love, loss, and distant nostalgia. Rejecting genre constraints, her self-produced butchered folk songs meld electronic and organic tones in favour of a sonic hybridity. Her latest single, In Your Garden / Swallow, released in September – listen below.
Joel Whitaker
Joel Whitaker is a songwriter and guitarist based in Brighton, originally from Yorkshire. He is best known for playing bass in KEG, but has contributed guitar, bass, and cello to the likes of Amy May Ellis and Spang Sisters. He recently scored the music for short documentary Why my mum loves Russell Crowe, which received nominations for Best Short Documentary at the Cannes Film Festival 2023. Last year, he released his first solo album, Rouge, a rich and impressionistic set of string-based songs – check out the final track from the album, Life Beyond The Fence, below. His next album is releasing soon!
May Kershaw
May Kershaw is a pianist and vocalist most well-known for her work in UK band Black Country, New Road, where she shares lead vocal duties with Tyler Hyde and Lewis Evans. She is also a member of the Kinu Trio, a clarinet trio who have been performing around London – listen to an interview and performance with the group below.
Ninush
Ninush (Nina Lim) is a freelance violinist and performer with a diverse career, with classical violin performance degrees at the Guildhall School of Music and the Purcell School. She performs regularly with the Paraorchestra and has played with Chineke!. Her performances span prestigious venues such as the Royal Albert Hall and festivals like the BBC Proms; she also recently finished a leg touring with Black Country, New Road. She is a skilled session musician, songwriter, and string arranger, and has collaborated with a wide range of artists across varied genres. Catch her playing with BC, NR below.
with Felix Stephens and Sam Tsang
Sarah Downie
Sarah Downie is the lead singer for Drug Store Romeos, a band that, after forming in college at Farnborough, released their debut album The world within our bedrooms in 2021. NME described the band as a “fleet trio ushering in a new, mega-exciting age of dream-pop… there’s a sense that had their album been released 30 years ago, it might be a cult classic by today – akin to Young Marble Giants’ Colossal Youth, or Stereolab’s Emperor Tomato Ketchup.” Check out their single ‘Frame of Reference’ below.
Tiernan
Tiernan is perhaps best known as the guitarist and vocalist of the British slow-core band deathcrash, who released their debut album in January of 2022. deathcrash became one of the “more unusual bands emerging out of the post-punk-adjacent musical renaissance in the UK – they eschewed the post-punk sound that defined many of their contemporaries for the quiet and atmospheric sounds of the post-rock landscape.” On 17 March 2023, Deathcrash released their second studio album, Less, which released to overwhelmingly positive reception – listen to their single, Empty Heavy, below.
Tyler Cryde
Tyler Cryde is a guitarist, bassist and vocalist most well-known for her work in UK band Black Country, New Road, where she shares lead vocal duties with May Kershaw and Lewis Evans. Catch her solo set at the Windmill, from January 2023.
