Brightonsfinest are excited to announce our latest Alternative Escape showcase at St. Mary’s Church. It’s our third year running a free entry stage, offering a killer line-up that’s open to the public and Great Escape festival goers alike. We’re pretty proud to be able to say the line-ups that we’ve curated have rivaled the official festival stages, whilst offering bills with more of a local focus, and this year is no different. Brighton headliners The Fiction Aisle create epic progressive pop that seems perfectly pitched to soar up into the high rafters of this year’s venue: the beautiful gothic setting of St Mary The Virgin in Kemptown. We’re excited to be releasing a new special edition double-vinyl version of their debut album Heart Map Rubric, later this summer, but hearing it live in this amazing space will be simply sublime.  Read on for stage-times and a little more info on all of the acts we’re presenting this year:

2.00-2.30pm – Pavo Pavo
Pavo Pavo are a revelation – jumping into sharp focus when set against a cluttered musical world, they’ve brought out one of the most glorious sounding debut albums (Young Narrator In The Breakers) we’ve heard in a while. The band formed while studying at Yale University, an experimental pop five-piece whose musical minds have worked with some of the best in indie and classical music (such as Here We Go Magic, John Zorn, Dave Longstreth, Porches). Together, they have created something quite special and what’s most exciting is that this is only just the beginning for Pavo Pavo.
Read more about Pavo Pavo here
pavopavomusic.com
 

2.50-3.20pm – Sam Walker
A multi-instrumental songwriter and performer full of hope, fury and joy from the UK.
Read more about Sam Walker here
facebook.com/pg/SamWalkermusica
 

3.40-4.10pm – Penelope Isles
Hailing from the Isle of Man, Penelope Isles are the sounds of Jack and Lily Wolter, with the help of friends Becky Redford and Jack Sowton. Currently based between Brighton and Cornwall, the band perform melodic fuzz pop with dynamics that will transfix and satisfy. Hypnotic, chiming bedroom pop music. For the lovers of Radiohead, The Magic Numbers and Deerhunter.
Read More about Penelope Isles here
facebook.com/pg/penelopeisles
 

4.30-5.00pm – Fukushima Dolphin
Based in Brighton, Fukushima Dolphin are a rock band with striking melodies, powerful harmonies, a sea of guitars and synthesised leads.
Read More about Fukushima Dolphin here
facebook.com/fukushimadolphin

5.20-5.50pm – Breathe Panel
Childhood friends Josh Tyler & Harry Vick, convinced there was more to life after school than breeding chickens & growing onions, left Devon and moved to Brighton pursue music. It was there Josh met Nick Green, a transplant from Hertfordshire, and they began writing and recording together, combining their shared love of West Coast Americana, krautrock and drone music. The result is a lush yet dynamic indie rock, with strident guitars providing a counterpoint to soaring vocals. Breathe Panel’s line up is completed by Harry on bass and drummer Benjamin Reeves.
Read More about Breathe Panel here
facebook.com/breathepanel
 

6.10-6.40pm – The Hundredth Anniversary
Brighton three-piece The Hundredth Anniversary were formed in January 2012. Their atmospheric and precisely structured songs marry bright guitar lines, rigorous percussion and clear, honest vocals. Sea State,Pictures, the debut album by The Hundredth Anniversary was released on February 3rd 2017 on Faking Jazz Together Records. The band have played shows across the UK, supporting and sharing bills with Lower Dens, Waxahatchee, Wolf Alice, Fear of Men, Esben and The Witch and many more. They have been twice named in NME’s ‘Ones to Watch’, and have recorded a Daytrotter session which made it into their end of year ‘Best of’ list.
Read More about The Hundredth Anniversary here
thehundredthanniversary.com
 

7.00-7.35pm – Fragile Creatures
Combining rock, pop and grunge with catchy melodies, Fragile Creatures make a solid nod to the halcyon heyday of British guitar music. They released their debut album …And Other Wild Things last year, as the first release from our own Brightonsfinest Presents label. Now the band are emerging from a winter spent hard at work in the rehearsal room, with shows focussed on road-testing the new material they’ve written for the second record. What we’re hearing so far is darker, brasher and more convoluted. Come along and be some of the first humans to hear these exciting new sounds.
Read More about Fragile Creatures here
fragilecreatures.co.uk
 

7.55-8.30pm – Laish
Laish is the musical project of Danny Green, Yorkshire-born and London-based acclaimed songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Live shows are highly energetic and infused with a sort of dry British humour. Prominent shows include some of the UK’s most prestigious venues like Union Chapel, Roundhouse and Barbican. Laish have toured extensively across the UK and Europe and performed at festivals including End of the Road, Smugglers, Larmer Tree, and Cambridge Folk. They latest Laish album, Pendulum Swing, released last year by respected French label, Talitres, garnered extremely positive reviews.
Read More about Laish here
laishmusic.com
 

8.50-9.25pm – Cristobal and The Sea
Within this melting pot of dreamy tropicalia there are notes of their southern Mediterranean culture and an unintentionally Brazilian bossa nova feel in João’s guitar style, all underpinned by a beat-generation vibe that seeps into all their songs. All perfectly captured on their debut by New York producer, Rusty Santos from The Present (Animal Collective, Owen Pallet, DJ Rashad, Panda Bear)
Read More about Cristobal and The Sea here
facebook.com/cristobalandthesea
 

9.45-10.30pm – The Fiction Aisle
One of Brighton’s own, and the latest in a long-line of projects from the mind of Mercury Prize nominated Electric Soft Parade frontman Thomas White, The Fiction Aisle bring together a fine assortment of Brighton’s best musicians to create a truly glorious sound. On Thomas’s own label imprint (Chord Orchard) The Fiction Aisle released their debut album Heart Map Rubric late in 2015, garnering 6Music’s attention alongside a slew of glowing reviews for both the album and the live show. Combining a love of classic song-writing, with hints of jazz and lounge, alongside schizophrenic nose-dives into the heavier territory explored by 70s prog rock, this unique group are not to be missed.
Read More about The Fiction Aisle here
facebook.com/thefictionaisle