Judging for the Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition is now taking place.
My task as one of 30 long list judges is to whittle down the thousands of entries to around 100, which will then be reduced further by judges including festival organisers to a shortlist of eight.
Each will perform at a live finals in Pilton near to the Somerset based festival’s site, with a main stage slot and a £5,000 development grant available for the winner.
At the half way stage I like to focus on some of the acts that have stood out so far. I can only put three through and there are dozens more for me to listen so they could certainly be in consideration.
Edie Bens – Poster Child
Edie Bens confused me at first, submitting in the country genre. Judging by her strong song Poster Child pop would be more applicable. It’s extremely radio friendly and incredibly already has almost 300,000 views on Youtube so is already appealing to many.
She has backed up her entry with a strong live clip that I like even more. Her string section and her pop savvy tunes would sound great from a main stage at the festival.
Master Peace
Another strong pop song on my list is Start You Up by Master Peace aka Peace Okezie. Great vocals and that bass line is superb during the verse. He’s four EPs deep into his career, which started seven years ago and has already impressed critics, winning a Rising Star Ivor Novello Award.
Sunflower Thieves
The stand out dream pop entry so far is from Sunflower Thieves, with great vocal harmonies and in How Was America a wonderful tune. The band is duo Amy Illingworth and Lily Sturt Bolshaw from Leeds. This self-managed and self-produced act has already caught the attention of BBC Radio 1 and 6 Music. Previous track I Don’t Know is already well-known across Spotify, where it has been streamed 1.2m times.
Ellis:D
Well, this is a coincidence. A couple of years ago Brighton based Ellis was one of my three longlist selections. His song didn’t progress further but he may or may not get a second go after once again finding himself in my list of tracks to listen to.
His track Humdrum is another strong entry with a good Talking Heads influence shining through. Just a warning for those with epilepsy as this video contains flashing lights.
Norma Night
I’m getting strong Devo and B-52s vibes from Norma Night’s excellently poppy Highway Hypnosis. Needless to say this is a lot of fun.
By Joe Lepper
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