LEMONDAZE + VERONICA + SWALLOWTAIL + FRANCES MISTRY – THE HOPE & RUIN, BRIGHTON 6.2.26
From quiet introspection to intense noise, local promoter REVOLT brought together four exciting artists to deliver a richly varied evening at The Hope & Ruin. The night moved fluidly from Frances Mistry’s intimate indie‑folk storytelling to Swallowtail’s industrial‑tinged noise‑rock, Veronica’s cinematic art‑pop theatrics and Lemondaze’s widescreen shoegaze intensity. All of which were met with genuine enthusiasm by the large crowd.
Brighton singer‑songwriter Frances Mistry opened the night with her blend of alt‑folk and indie storytelling. Her warm vocals sat confidently at the centre, giving her songs a balance of fragility and assurance. She’s clearly carving out her own space, grounding her writing in personal stories and quiet emotional detail.
With her band, she eased in with the mellow ‘New Hands To Hold’ before moving into ‘Something Has To Give’, written after the last election about the need for change. Its gentle 80s‑tinged keys and thoughtful tone showed how protest songs can land without raising their voice. The contrast between two new songs, the upbeat ‘Chase My Soul’ and the more melancholy ‘Snake Pit’, further highlighted her range as a writer.
The beautifully haunting ‘When I Look In Her Eyes’ proved a standout, lifted by Gabe’s intricate guitar work. Closing with ‘Our Blood’, Frances Mistry shifted gears, switching mid‑song into a rockier, almost prog‑leaning section that revealed a bolder edge to the band. A sizeable early crowd responded warmly, a clear sign that her voice is resonating.
Frances Mistry:
Frances – vocals, acoustic guitar
Miles – keyboards, backing vocals
Oscar – drums
Gabe – electric guitar
Eve – bass
Frances Mistry setlist:
‘New Hands To Hold’ (from 2025 ‘Conversations With Those I Love’ EP)
‘Something Has To Give’ (from 2025 ‘Conversations With Those I Love’ EP)
‘Shock To My System’ (from 2025 ‘Conversations With Those I Love’ EP)
‘Chase My Soul’ (unreleased)
‘Snake Pit’ (unreleased)
‘When I Look In Her Eyes’ (from 2025 ‘Conversations With Those I Love’ EP)
‘Our Blood’ (from 2024 ‘Messages’ EP)
Brighton four‑piece Swallowtail delivered one of the night’s most distinctive sets, fusing trip‑hop intricacies with industrial‑leaning noise‑rock. Their sound sat somewhere between shoegaze fuzz and post‑punk melody, creating an elegantly gritty atmosphere where hypnotic textures meet brooding distortion. At the centre was Lucy Darke’s voice, sweet, clear and quietly intense, which was a striking contrast to the harsher edges of the music around her.
They opened with ‘Breathe’, its haunting mood slowly building into something heavier, driven by some powerful drumming. ‘Sordid’ pushed further into industrial territory, shifting between quiet passages and sudden bursts of noise, while the lighting flickered like flashes of lightning.
One of many standouts was ‘Haunts’, where Caleb Ryde used a violin bow to coax a harsher, grating tone from his guitar, unsettling in the best way. Lucy’s trip-hop like vocals floated beautifully above it. ‘Cowboy’ featured pained, emotional vocals and a darker, more haunted mood, before switching pace mid‑song as the band surged forward.
They closed with ‘Time Sig’. It opened slowly with mesmerising choral-like vocals, before expanding into a huge crescendo. Lucy’s vocals never wavered, even as the band reached full force behind her. It was a stunning finish from a group clearly sharpening their sound and widening their scope.
Swallowtail:
Lucy Darke – vocal, guitar
Caleb Ryde – guitar
Drew Vickerstaff – drums
Bella Sofia – bass
Swallowtail setlist:
‘Breathe’ (unreleased)
‘Sordid’ (unreleased)
‘Haunts’ (unreleased)
‘Something Holy’ (unreleased)
‘Cowboy’ (unreleased)
‘Time Sig’ (unreleased)
Originally from Milan and now based in Brighton, Veronica brought a dramatic shift in tone with a set steeped in cinematic storytelling and theatrical vocal power. Blending dream‑rock, art‑pop and alt‑indie, her near‑operatic delivery gave each song a sweeping emotional presence. Veronica and her band delivered a performance that balanced quality with a refreshing sense of fun.
She opened with ‘Rose’, an ethereal, haunting introduction that showcased her soaring, almost classical high notes. The mood shifted with ‘King Of The World’, a softer, filmic track with her vocals rising effortlessly. Between songs she joked that her family had flown in from Italy “to hear my songs about death,” setting the tone for the playful macabre that followed.
‘The Only Way To Kill The Butterfly’ leaned into a sombre darkness, with breathy vocals mixing with a haunting melody. ‘Haunted’, introduced as “a song about organ trafficking, you’re welcome,” paired a macabre backing track with more stunning high notes. The crowd watched in near silence.
The set closed with ‘The Lake Of The Dead’, a mysterious, playful pop moment that saw Veronica dancing and twirling through the crowd. It was a charismatic, captivating performance that held the room in stillness one moment and smiling the next.
Veronica:
Veronica – vocals, keyboard
Eva – bass
Esme – drums
Veronica setlist:
‘Rose’ (a 2025 single)
‘King Of The World’ (unreleased)
‘The Only Way To Kill The Butterfly’ (unreleased)
‘Haunted’ (a 2025 single)
‘I’ll Never Dream About It Again’ (unreleased)
‘God’s Favourite’ (a 2026 single)
‘The Lake Of The Dead’ (from 2023 ‘Just A Dream’ EP)
Cambridge quartet Lemondaze closed the night with a set that felt both expansive and tightly controlled, pushing their shoegaze foundations into heavier, more urgent territory. Swirling guitars, cascading drums and hushed vocals from Isis and Rosie created a widescreen sound that balanced intensity with a serene calm at its core.
The opening trio of songs, ‘Polari’, ‘Art Form’ and ‘C=Bain’, moved from slow‑building haze to stealthier rock surges, each adding another layer of atmosphere without losing vocal clarity. ‘O(Type)’ arrived with a crackling film‑style sound clip before dropping into a shifting soundscape of rising noise and pulsing lights, the vocals remaining weightless above the swirl and never getting lost.
‘Terra’, only played live once before, expanded their palette again. Its electronic track seamlessly transitioned into the full band, driven by Finn’s particularly commanding drumming, while pedal board effects added depth to the song. They closed with ‘Gravemind’, a slow‑building shoegaze swell that erupted into a controlled alt‑rock climax of dual vocals and dense guitar noise.
As with much of Lemondaze’s set, the calmness in the vocals and the urgency in the music combined perfectly. It was a liberating, full‑scale finish from a band stretching confidently into bolder territory.
Lemondaze:
Isis – vocals, guitar
Rosie – vocals, guitar
Finn – drums
Jonty – bass
Lemondaze setlist:
‘Polari’ (from 2025 ‘Subtext’ EP)
‘Art Form’ (a 2021 single)
‘C=Bain’ (from 2025 ‘Subtext’ EP)
‘O(Type)’ (from 2025 ‘Subtext’ EP)
‘Terra’ (from 2025 ‘Subtext’ EP)
‘Gravemind’ (from 2025 ‘Subtext’ EP)
By the end of the night, it was clear why the crowd stayed engaged from the first note to the last. Each band offered something distinct, yet the contrasts only strengthened the flow of the evening. The acts complemented one another well, and the audience responded with warmth, movement and genuine enthusiasm. Their reaction made it clear just how well REVOLT’s event landed.
REVOLT transforms Brighton venues into spaces of solidarity, amplifying emerging artists to raise crucial funds for medical and healthcare relief in Palestine. For more events from REVOLT click HERE.
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