Join us in the Weston Studio for an evening of captivating music from two incredible artists.

Shovel Dance Collective

Shovel Dance Collective are a group of nine musicians united by a passion for the beauty, force, and political charge of the traditional musics of Britain, Ireland and beyond. They are committed to Folk music not as an archaeological artifact to be unearthed, but as a living communal activity - inviting and generous to those it speaks to. They arrange the source material into a kind of musique boue (mud music), simultaneously traditional and experimental they engage a deep, cross-temporal synthesis of free improvisation, tape manipulation and field recordings. Their music appears as a patchwork as pieces are stitched together, rearranged and recontextualised. The yarn is threaded with their sense of aesthetic innovation, and with a deep sense of the ways in which traditional music holds the voices of the oppressed and those who, by their labour, create the wealth of the world.

They have performed sold out shows across the UK, with headline concerts at venues such as Cafe OTO, Kings Place and Cecil Sharp House. The collective have appeared at many major festivals: Glastonbury, Roskilde, SXSW, Rewire, Green Man, End of the Road, Sidmouth Folk Festival, Supernormal and Supersonic festivals among others. Publications such as The Wire, Loud and Quiet, NME, Financial Times and The Times have heralded their live performances across the years. Their albums ‘The Shovel Dance’ and ‘The Water is the Shovel of the Shore’ have been championed by The Wire, MOJO, Uncut, KLOF, Songlines et al. and both were named albums of the year by The Quietus.

Naima Bock

Most of the writing of Naima Bock’s second album, Below A Massive Dark Land (out 27 September via Sub Pop), was a solitary affair. It may not sound it – it’s made up of strong, purposeful arrangements with a huge host of musicians; filled with cradling space and warm light. This will also come as a surprise to anyone who has seen Naima perform in the time since the release of her 2022 debut Giant Palm, undoubtedly a communal experience.

With a band of ten, three, or even just solo, when Naima plays there’s a rare bond between the musicians on stage and the audience. In their interview with her, The Quietus declared “after every song the applause and cheering is immense, so immense in fact that it seems to be
coming from a different place than the usual formalities of a live show, a link between performer and artist forged somewhere deeper and more personal.”

It was in Giant Palm’s music too, a record that sweeps and swells, a chorus of voices and instrumentation that rises and falls as one alongside Naima’s own somersaulting voice.