THE LUCID DREAM + ĠENN + MELT PLASTIC GROUP + CODEX SERAFINI + SCHOOL DISCO + JOHANNA BRAMLI + PLINTH – ALL SAINTS CENTRE, LEWES & ELIZA SKELTON + ELLIS D – UNION MUSIC STORE, LEWES 29.1.22
After a break because of the pandemic, the annual Lewes Psychedelic Festival returned in full force today at the All Saints Centre in Lewes with music sets from The Lucid Dream, ĠENN, Melt Plastic Group, Codex Serafini and School Disco as well as DJ sets from Acid Box in between each of the performances. It was certainly something to brighten up your January Saturday, as the psychedelic visuals were provided and produced by Innerstrings and the event was masterminded by local promoters Melting Vinyl.
‘Lewes Psych Fest’ has a reputation for bringing together a wide variety of acts under the psych umbrella by bathing the acts in swirling liquid lights, which is not unlike being in a giant lava lamp. The All Saints Centre in Friar’s Walk, Lewes is the perfect concert venue for this event and is arguably a Sussex hidden gem which is within easy reach of the mainline train station and Lewes bus station.
Prior to the five bands performing at the All Saints Centre from 6pm, punters that arrived early were greeted from 3pm with intimate sets from ELLiS⋆D and Eliza Skelton at the Union Music Store which is located opposite the All Saints Centre.
The ‘Small Psych Room’ located behind the All Saints Centre was also up and running from 3pm with some dreamlike, experimental electro-psych from Plinth as well as experimental sound perceptions courtesy of Johanna Bramli.
Space was limited for the ELLiS⋆D set at the Union Music Store and so punters were nicely squeezed in amongst the racks of records in order to witness the superb song writing! Hailing from Brighton, ELLiS⋆D performed songs for his recently released EP ‘We Are The Last Generation’. The songs are politically inspired with Nick Cave‘esque vocal phrasing that would sound even better on a larger stage as a full band performance but still outstanding with the strong vocals.
After this, we moved on swiftly in order to catch the tail end of the Plinth performance in ‘The Small Psych Room’. This offered a different experience altogether, offering up more of a harmonic soundscape reminiscent to Brian Eno and film music and this most definitely suited the acoustics of the stained glass church perfectly!
A clash was enviable for an event of this size, and so singer songwriter Eliza Skelton was playing an acoustic set at the Union Music Store at same time as Johanna Bramli was performing in the Small Psych Room.
Thus we opted for the latter and composer Johanna Bramli did not disappoint with her sound scrapes and electronic compositions. As well as a musician, she has been lecturing at the University of Brighton. Her dream-like minimalist sounds captivated the audience ready for what is still to come for the main evening event.
With the decibels set on very high, School Disco hit the ‘Main Psych Room’ stage at 6:15pm sharp with Polly from Acid Box Promotions having spun a few tunes beforehand.
School Disco hail from Brighton and have just recently released their second album ‘Heads Still Here’. They played a 30 minute set comprising mainly the new songs ,that were all backed with images and visuals provided by Innerstrings to add to the effects in a rock ’n’ roll style in order to heat up the audience. Within the song ‘Echoes’, the band portray their fizzling blend of Indie rock with mind bending psychedelia. School Disco’s abrasive guitar riffs and pounding drums echo in the All Saints Centre and thus create a raw and heavy sound.
With a total change of mood, Codex Serafini who were founded in Brighton, come on stage and are an altogether bizarre kettle of fish. The band are all dressed in robes and wearing masks and have the lighting switched to bright lava red! The lead singer connects with the band as she faces them during the whole set. It was something akin to being like mediaeval chamber music, with the main instrument being the saxophone to accompany this quirky ‘cult like’ experimental outfit!
Willy Robinson with Jessica Lazziri on bass and drummer GaX form the Melt Plastic Group, play a Texan 70’s inspired guitar riff ridden set. The outfit take their inspiration from the 1970’s ‘The Elevators’ with a harmonica to boot and mesmerising vocals. This band certainly got the crowds dancing down the front.
Fan favourites ĠENN got the punters dancing in a frenzy with their heavy grinds and guitar riffs all tougher with head bashing antics. The quartet also resides in Brighton and comprises Leona Farrugia (vocals), Janelle Borg (guitar), Leanne Zammit (bass) who are all originally from Malta and moved to the UK and found drummer Sofia Rosa Cooper and thus completed their line-up. (ĠENN is Maltese for ‘Frenzy’.)
The long instrumental psychedelic introduction set the scene for an all round infectious and energetic post punk set. But judging by the audience’s reaction, they wanted more of the same as the short sets were running a tad behind schedule. The band have released an EP ‘Liminal’ back in 2021.
For the headline act The Lucid Dream, the All Saints Centre was filled to capacity, with the last stragglers standing outside, with drinks in hand and joining in full force! There was a buzz in the air for this four piece band who hail from Carlisle. The opening bars were too irresistible with a wall of melodic sound bouncing from speaker to speaker to the pleasure of the dancing fans at the front.
The Lucid Dream released the album ‘The Deep End’ back in May 2021 which showed a strong influence to the 90’s dance culture with some heavy bass ‘Chemical Brothers; reminiscence.
Overall, this year’s Lewes Psychedelic Festival at times did feel slightly subdued and folks were being a little cautious as compared with previous years, but then there wasn’t Covid around was there! Having said that, it was still a highly enjoyable day’s guitar ridden psych extravaganza and I for one was pleased that the event took place. I heard some happy regulars uttering that after that they were eager to return again next year!
The Brighton & Hove News Music Team attended the 2020 festival. Read our reviews HERE and HERE.
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Nice write up, was a great night
Thanks very much Tristian.