Lewes Psych Fest

Lewes Psychedelic Festival has been thrilling the ancient town’s locals since 2009. Fujiya & Miyagi headlined this year’s edition, which your humble reporter would suggest is the ‘biggest’ name band to have closed the event so far.

Presented by Melting Vinyl, an independent music promotions firm, and Innerstrings, a visual artist (who provides the illuminations), it is held at the All Saint’s Centre and the excellent Union Music Store opposite. The record shop is tiny and I couldn’t get in this year. Acid Box DJ Polly Miles was on the decks in the main hall.

I hope you enjoy this brief round-up. Please note, the quality of the photographs declined as the excellent Abyss IPA took hold. By the same token, actual music reviewing proved a bit sketchy too. Let’s call this more of a pictorial overview.

The Small Psych Room

Today, two acts are showcased in the church’s vestry. A strict one in, one out policy engendered an excellent feeling of intimacy.

First up, the highly rated solo psych-folk artist Sharron Kraus, who has an extensive back catalogue and some great reviews but is new to me. I only caught a bit of her set and look forward to hearing more. Samana recently supported Silver Moth on tour, which is when I first encountered them. Up close and personal they are mesmerising, stupendous, shamanic. They’ve a new LP coming out soon. Watch this space.

Main Psyche Stage

I missed Plantoid altogether. That’s a real shame. But Bella Union head honcho Simon Raymonde is looking after them. Think they’ll be OK.

Eliza Skelton and crew play a terrific acid-fried set, with the eponymous singer belting out her vocals. Bought her LP on the strength of it but the recording was quite different from live. Not in the best way. Looking forward to relistening to the album as there’s a lot going on.

Hutch bring a big splash of Westcoast psychedelic sunshine to a late-January evening. Had a quick chat with the band afterwards and discovered they are playing Hot Box in Chelmsford soon – my local venue. Groovy!

My son told me Aircooled (below) supported Miki Berenyi Trio when he saw them, which piqued my interest. The band comprises a number of well-known players from classic UK indie acts. They were a shimmering lamé ball of energy. That’s all I can remember. Apologies.

Fujiya & Miyagi (below) serve up ‘Electro Knickerbocker’ straightaway and have the crowd eating out of their hands. Their Dada-funk makes perfect sense at this psyche fest. ‘Flaws’, Collarbone’, ‘In One Ear …’. Perfect pop, drolly delivered. They close with the motorik ‘Ankle Injuries’ then they’re gone.

Final words

Lewes Psych Fest is such a blast of joy. A community occasion that warmly greets out-of-towners. Plus I got to meet the legendary Pete Wiggs (St Etienne) and James Papademetrie from the-seance radio show.

I will be glued to the internet when tickets for next year’s event go on sale. But I won’t tell anyone when because they sell like hot cakes.