VONA VELLA + JOE LITTLE + MOOKIE + TIA ICE – THE HOPE & RUIN, BRIGHTON 26.6.26
Hidden Herd’s latest showcase brought four rising artists to The Hope & Ruin stage, each offering a different pulse of new music. Nottingham’s Vona Vella headlined the night with a dynamic performance, moving from noise rock intensity to stripped back calm and bright indie pop, after three local artists. Tia Ice eased the room in with her laid‑back neo‑soul and spoken‑word touches. Mookie followed with an alt‑folk/Americana blend edged by dreamy pop and rockier moments. Joe Little shifted the mood into hazier, cinematic indie with flashes of tenderness. A strong, discovery‑driven evening, which is exactly what Hidden Herd does best.
Tia Ice opened the night with a laid‑back, soulful ease, her neo‑soul grooves settling over the room like the first warm hour of a summer evening. Hampshire‑born but firmly part of the city’s creative pulse, she blends jazz’s softness with funk’s bite, making self‑reflection feel sweet and unhurried.
Tia Ice opened with a spoken‑word introduction to her “journey of sound and movement” easing the room into laid‑back neo‑soul with box‑drum rhythms, warm sax lines and Latin‑tinged guitar. Poems and breathing exercises shaped the set’s reflective flow, while moments like her dance break in the audience during ‘Red Wine’ and the funkier ‘Let’s Ride’ lifted the energy. She closed with ‘Redefine’ bringing a reggae‑dub brightness that capped a fluid, summer‑evening performance.
Tia Ice setlist:
‘Lady Starlight’ (from 2026 ‘Love Personified’ album)
‘Summah Nights’ (from 2026 ‘Love Personified’ album)
‘Red Wine’ (from 2026 ‘Love Personified’ album)
‘Let’s Ride’ (unreleased)
‘Stay Tru’ (from 2026 ‘Love Personified’ album)
‘Go Gettah’ (unreleased)
‘Redefine’ (unreleased)
Mookie followed with a brilliant, quietly spellbinding set, folding alt‑folk and Americana alongside dreamy pop textures and rockier flashes. There’s something a little witchy, a little rock ’n’ roll in the way those celestial harmonies meet raw, earthy emotion, giving their songs a timeless but slightly enchanted pull.
Mookie opened with ‘Metamorphosis’, building from gentle, dreamy folk into stronger vocals and fuller instrumentation. ‘Set It Free’ brought emotional lift and early dancing, while the mandolin‑led more country sounds of ‘While The Wind Sweeps’ soon had the crowd two‑stepping, including Annie behind her keyboard. Their single ‘The Bugs’ shifted from mystical to rocky, followed by a tight, well‑received cover of Patti Smith’s ‘Dancing Barefoot’, the theme song to “Daisy Jones & the Six” an American musical TV drama. Mookie closed with ‘Stay Wild’, a soft, nature‑rooted finish to an impressively assured first full‑band show.
Hard to believe this was their first live show as a full band, given the quality and variety across the set. It felt like the arrival of a genuinely exciting new voice, one I strongly recommend catching live.
Mookie setlist:
‘Metamorphosis’ (unreleased)
‘Set It Free’ (a 2025 single)
‘While The Wind Sweeps’ (unreleased)
‘The Bugs’ (a 2024 single)
‘Dancing Barefoot’ (a Patti Smith cover)
‘Stay Wild’ (unreleased)
Joe Little shifted the evening into a hazier, more cinematic space, his songwriting moving between stillness and scale with raw emotional clarity. Drawing from post‑punk, folk and left‑field pop, he lets his influences blur into something fluid and quietly dreamlike.
A beautifully paced set opened with ‘Forever’, a clean, melodic indie track, before the softer dual‑vocal ‘Notice Me’ brought a gentle country tint. New song ‘Find You’ offered a fresh, 90s‑leaning guitar‑pop feel, leading into the standout moment of the night: ‘Ordinary’, performed largely solo, slow and fragile, with brushed drums and a room held in respectful silence. His quietest song rightly got the loudest cheer. The band lifted the energy again with ‘Loving For The First Time’, ‘Heartache’ and the punchy ‘Kiss’, closing on ‘I’ll Be The Best’, a bluesy, jam‑like finale.
