Brighten The Corners festival, set to take place over five town-centre venues in Ipswich on Friday 9th and Saturday 10th June 2023, has announced the first 13 artists of their inclusive and exciting lineup.

The multi-venue event formerly known as Sound City Ipswich has run for two editions in 2019 and 2021 and has brought artists such as Yard Act, Working Mens Club, The Murder Capital, Novelist and others to the town. The team behind the festival also run live music venues The Smokehouse and The Baths and are set to open St Stephen's Church as a venue and cafe bar next Spring. These three venues will be used for the festival in addition to the Corn Exchange and a stage on the Corn Hill.

The first festival headliner has been announced as 86TVs, a new band comprised of Will, Hugo and Felix White from the Maccabees and Jamie Morrison of the Noisettes and Stereophonics. The band was formed after The Maccabees played their final shows at Alexandra Palace in 2016, and the White brothers started playing regularly with Morrison at their studio in South London. The band has just played their first UK tour, in support of Jamie T, and their first two headline shows in London have sold out instantly.

Also announced is London based musician Rozi Plain, whose songs are a combination of minimalist blues, indie folk and free-floating jazz. She has collaborated with the likes of Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor and her forthcoming fifth LP features collaborations with Alabaster De Plume, Danalogue (of Comet is Coming) and Kate Stables (of This is the Kit).

Also confirmed are The Lounge Society, who play their own distinct breed of art-punk with fleet-footed guitar and drum motifs, bite-and-bark vocals and popping electronics. Their highly anticipated album ‘Tired of Liberty’ was released in August this year with producer Dan Carey who has worked with the likes of Fontaines D.C and Kae Tempest. “The Lounge Society are assuredly blazing their own path” – NME

Naima Bock has deep and far reaching musical roots. With a Brazilian father and Greek mother, her music draws influences from the Brazilian standards that the family used to listen to driving to the beach, the European folk traditions she tapped into on her own, and the pursuits that interest her today – studies in archaeology, work as a gardener, and walking the world’s great trails – Naima’s music draws from family, the earth and the handing down of music through generations.

muva of Earth, an alternative jazz singer and ‘ASCENDING SOULSTRESS’ from tribe ‘Crown of Osun’ in Yorubaland, Nigeria, is set to play the 2 day festival. Her music explores the complexities of identity through afrofuturistic rhythms and atmospheric horns.

London based rapper Coops has been confirmed too. His first ever live performance was at London’s O2 Arena, supporting hip-hop legend Nas, after winning Choice FM’s Breakthrough Competition. He says, “I want to be inspired by the greats, rather than what’s current.” His music questions the current state of hip-hop, politics, and the world.

Also appearing are deathcrash, a slowcore rock band from London whose music ‘revels in repressively slow builds that climb to tortuously tense eruptions of cathartic release’. The band have an album in the works set to be released in 2023 so will have new material for their return to Ipswich, having previously played The Smokehouse.

Joshua Idehen is a spoken word artist and musician who, in addition to his own music, has collaborated with a number of contemporary jazz artists, including Mercury Prize nominees The Coming Is Coming and MOBO award winning Sons of Kemet.

Also set to play the Summer festival are Group Listening, a collaboration between Stephen Black, aka Sweet Baboo, and experimental jazz musician Paul Jones. Meditative instrumentalists they take influences from ‘exploring and experimenting with the recording process’ and create uniquely engaging pieces.

Motown Records' first UK rapper signee, the singer-songwriter and rapper Jords is Croydon’s rising star making his mark on the scene, while drawing from the musical influences that raised him. Delivering smooth hip hop, with nods to UK Funky, Grime, Jazz, Dancehall, R&B & his spoken word background, his music merges thoughtful lyrics with raw emotion, all deeply grounded in his experience of being a young Black man growing up in the inner city.

Moreish Idols are a five piece alternative band that pull inspiration from psychedelic, jazz, post-punk and dub amongst others. Being spotted by award winning producer Dan Carey (Fontaines D.C., black midi, Bat For Lashes) the band signed to Speedy Wunderground to record and release their explosive debut EP, Float.

London based experimental trio Kyoto Kyoto have influences spanning Krautrock, Anatolian psychedelia and noise and quickly earned a reputation for their spellbinding exhibits of ambient and psychedelic guitar music across London's underground circuit. Catch them on the lineup for Brighten The Corners festival 2023.

Lande Hekt is a Bristol based singer-songwriter whose genre is described as punk meets alt-pop. Her voice in music is one that’s socially aware yet often introspective, drawing awareness to serious issues but at the same time baring her soul. “The Muncie Girls frontwoman’s solo debut is part self-interrogation and part community offering, serving up tiny bursts of joy and doubt as refuge for anyone navigating a similar path.” - PITCHFORK

Catch them all in Ipswich for Brighten The Corners in June 2023.

Head of Programming Marcus Neal said “It’s a real pleasure pulling together a festival line-up and it feels great to be able to start releasing the first names for 2023. We’re always proud of the quality of artists we work with and 2023 will be no different. This first release covers so many bases from spiritual jazz to UK hip-hop, indie-folk to post-punk, we feel there is already a great spread of genres and we look forward to building upon this with further announcements in the new year.“

Artist set times and locations will be announced closer to the time.

Early Bird Weekend tickets are available to purchase now, at https://www.brightenthecorners.co.uk/