DIM SWN | LIVE REVIEW
Various venues, Cardiff, Sat 9 Apr
The Swn Festival has long been a staple in the Cardiff music scene and now, with Dim Swn, you can get a little Swn fix while you wait until the full festival comes around again. Dim Swn itself largely focuses around Welsh based bands and gives them the opportunity to be discovered by Cardiff music lovers.
This year’s Dim Swn couldn’t have fallen on a better day with the sun beaming down as you walked from venue to venue. The first band that really impressed and grabbed my attention was indie-grunge three-piece Pipedream. The dark and dingy basement of Undertone filled to capacity and felt like another world to the sunny beautiful day outside. The band thrashed out a tight and bombastic set that left you devastated. Through out the afternoon Benedict Benjamin, Luk [above] and PARCS all kept the afternoon bumping along as the crowds became bigger and bigger in each venue.
When dusk set in, Welsh language psych-pop band Ysgol Sul laid down some sweet melodies that surrounded the crowed like a glitter-filled mist. The combination of the Welsh language and the music was such a beautiful sound to hear, even if the gig was cut slightly short through a broken bass lead. Following Ysgol Sul in Clwb Ifor Bach, Estrons [left] strolled onto the stage. Meaning Alien in Welsh Estrons has been pushed to the forefront of the local indie scene with BBC Introducing being a massive part of that. Their rumbling guitar feels like an uncontrollable run down a steep hill – as you come to the end of the mountain you’re out of breath and amazed by the experience you’ve just had.
One of the bands I was really looking forward to checking out was all-girl quartet The Big Moon [below]. And in all honesty, I think they were the highlight to the whole day. Their stage presence just emits a nonchalant and unpretentious coolness, something a lot of indie bands fail to capture. I was really drawn in by Juliette Jackson’s vocals and it never let me go; the entire set lifted me and the crowd after a full day of drinking cans and seeing a mind-melting amount of bands.
Coves closed the night and Dim Swn in style, melodic vocals and instrumentals southing our mind and souls. The atmosphere of the entire day was absolutely phenomenal. It’s pretty much an excuse for Cardiff’s entire music and gig-loving fraternity to see the very best of the Welsh music scene while drinking a beer in the sun.
words JAYDON MARTIN photos DAVID GRIFFITHS