Harvey Causon, Soeur & Swimming Girls to play The Downs Bristol 2018

Earlier this year, The Downs Bristol announced a stellar lineup for this years’ end-of-summer blowout on Clifton Downs, with headliners including Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Paul Weller, Orbital, Basement Jaxx and Goldie and the Heritage Ensemble.

Today, they announced a Bristol-centric live lineup for the Information Stage. By day, the stage will host a still-to-be-announced lineup of guest speakers covering a range of key socio-political topics (previous speakers include director Ken Loach and activist and musician Akala), but this year, for the first time, the stage will transform into an intimate performance space as darkness descends.

Harvey Causon

One of the newly-announced acts is producer, singer and songwriter Harvey Causon, who frequently draws comparisons with James Blake, Mount Kimbie and Chet Faker. He is one of Bristol’s fastest-rising talents and his latest track with producer Gabriel Clifford, Worn You, has been getting airplay on BBC Radio One all week. Find out more about the burgeoning Bristol talent in our full-length interview with Harvey Causon.

Soeur

Also announced is dual-fronted Bristol three-piece Soeur, whose grunge-infused pop rock has made them a firm favourite on the Bristol scene and beyond. They’re just closing up a UK tour in the wake of their excellent debut four-track EP What Separates Us.

Swimming Girls

Bristol four-piece Swimming Girls are also billed, whose dark and dreamy indie pop has caught the attention of indie tastemaker Huw Stephens, who has been playing their tracks on his BBC Radio One show. Front woman Vanessa is as cool as she is talented (think Lana Del Rey meets Cindi Lauper meets Lorde), turning down an opportunity to be managed by One Directions’ Louis Tomlinson and Simon Cowell to pursue Swimming Girls. Guitarist Jay, drummer Max and synths player Roo more than pull their weight, creating multi-layered, indie harmonies that get right under your skin.

Paris Youth Foundation

Mixing things up a bit, alt-rock group from Liverpool, Paris Youth Foundation are also set to play the Information Stage. They are one of three artists on Crosstown Concerts’ Crosstown Recordings label, which can only mean that they deserve a look in. The label is headed up by veteran promoters Paul Hutton and Conal Dodds (previously of Metropolis Music), who by reputation have a knack for catching on to the next big thing.