The Lighthouse Project @ Sin City, Swansea
Sat 2 Dec
The denizens of Swansea have long had to cast covetous, wistful glances up the M4 at Cardiff’s bounty of nightlife. While there’s by no means a drought of options, there was often little choice than to face a mission 40 miles or so east for a really hefty night out. The days of Escape, the west’s cavernous church of trance and its annual gurnathon in Singleton Park, where coachloads from Cardiff would snake through the city’s congested one-way system in the July heat, seed very long ago indeed.
But this autumn, change is in the air. Swansea is getting its club act together, and the epicentre of activity seems to be Sin City. Plenty of eyebrow-raising bookings seem to be going on at the club, and the biggest so far is British-born Austrian house doyenne Cassy. She’s a resident for Panorama Bar (the much housier sister club to notorious Berlin techno cavern Berghain, which you’ve probably had at least one pal drone on about being let in to at great length) and her presence in Wales’ second city is a real statement of intent.
Once a fixture of Sven Vath’s globe-straddling Cocoon brand, hers was always an altogether more slinky, nuanced proposition than some of her sturm und drang stablemates, and her new collaboration-focused label Kwench is bringing some serious heat.
It’s been quite the progression for the Lighthouse Project crew: from running a tiny party in the Mumbles, they’ve gone to hosting the likes of Jackmaster (who they welcomed in October) in just a few years. In fact, this party is the denouement of a sort of miniature WHP/Bristol in Motion set-up.
Support comes from the LHP’s able selection of residents, yet to be confirmed. It’ll be interesting to see what the spring and summer holds for this increasingly impressive promotion.
Tickets: £12. Info: 01792 468892
words KRISTIAN DANDO