SPEEDIAL + CORDELIA GARTSIDE + RHIANNON RUTHVEN + HITMAN SHEELA – THE HOPE & RUIN, BRIGHTON 24.7.26
Hidden Herd’s latest new‑music showcase at The Hope & Ruin offered a night defined by tension, texture and the thrill of watching four acts push their sound into new territory. Across folk‑shoegaze hybrids, ambient spoken‑word experiments, punchy alt‑rock evolution and cinematic post‑rock expansiveness, the evening moved with a deliberate sense of progression as each band added a new layer of mood, intensity or ambition. What followed was a showcase not just of emerging talent, but of artists actively shaping their own sound.
Hitman Sheela opened the night with a set that underlined just how quickly Katie Prescott’s new project has become one of Brighton’s most intriguing emerging acts. Katie, formerly of Nottingham’s Swallowtail, leads the four‑piece with a striking blend of accordion, guitar and tensile vocals.
They eased into ‘Lifetime For The Fly’ with a gentle folk drift that swelled into something more shoegaze‑tinged and cinematic. Glockenspiel flickers and accordion washes created a delicate, slow‑burn tension, her voice initially husky before sharpening into a more direct, urgent tone as the music intensified.
From there the band shifted shape. ‘Sharks’ brought tribal‑leaning drums and a darker, slightly goth‑tinged atmosphere, Katie’s vocals rising in anger as the room filled with heavier sound. The new track ‘Carry Your Bones’ saw her step away from the accordion, delivering a controlled vocal build that rose into a full wall of sound. With ‘The Bathe’, guitar and maracas carved out an otherworldly haze before erupting into shouted vocals and a powerful surge. Closer ‘Striptease’, with layered bass, drums and guitar, moved into a steadily accelerating crescendo. It was a noticeably fuller, more forceful sound than their recent outing at Girls Night Out, and a magnificent start to the evening.
Hitman Sheela:
Katie – vocals, accordion, guitar
Mimi – bass
Ethan – lead guitar
Alex – drums
Hitman Sheela setlist:
‘Lifetime For The Fly’ (unreleased)
‘Sharks’ (unreleased)
‘Carry Your Bones’ (unreleased)
‘The Bathe’ (unreleased)
‘Striptease’ (unreleased)
Brighton-based artist Rhiannon Ruthven’s set unfolded like a series of shifting weather fronts, moving between ambient folk, post‑rock intensity and spoken‑word abstraction with fluid, dreamlike waves.
Opening with ‘Lullaby For Scared Children’, Rhiannon and her band eased into moody, textural soundscapes before dual vocals and effected backing lines pushed the song into a soft, swelling crescendo. ‘Disordered Song’ snapped sharply into louder, rockier territory, its loud‑quiet dynamics and unconventional keys giving it a restless, prog‑leaning edge.
For ‘Horsefly’ the keyboardist put on a horsehead mask. (Think Fat Dog’s drummer before Ellis-D.) ‘Horsefly’ brought experimental keys, strong bass lines and bursts of noise, closing on a near‑solo vocal from Rhiannon. The new track ‘Leather Shoes’ was a standout: up‑tempo, playful, then suddenly clipped and screamed, collapsing into an alt‑rock frenzy. ‘Frontotemporal Dementia’ and ‘Juke Box’ leaned into spoken passages and dreamy vocals, further revealing a band with a lot happening under the surface and a flexible approach to song composition. Their intriguing and entertaining set added volatility, unpredictability and genre‑fluid experimentation to the night’s growing sense of dynamic contrast.
Rhiannon Ruthven:
Rhiannon Ruthven – vocals
Dylan Connelly – bass
Tyler Nathaniel – keys
Nikolai Sanders – drums
Rhiannon Ruthven setlist:
‘Lullaby For Scared Children’ (unreleased)
‘Disordered Song’ (unreleased)
‘Horsefly’ (unreleased)
‘Leather Shoes’ (unreleased)
‘Frontotemporal Dementia’ (unreleased)
‘Juke Box’ (unreleased)
www.instagram.com/rhiannon.ruthven
Cordelia Gartside’s set made it clear just how confidently she is expanding her lo‑fi alt‑rock world. Opening with ‘Happiness’, she moved from twinkling folk‑electric textures into a soaring vocal performance that quickly established a shift in tone: power, control and emotional lift. Willow Simpson’s intricate lead guitar added a rock‑leaning edge, while Tom Ironmonger’s bass grounded the sound with new weight and punch giving a more direct, rockier evolution of Cordelia’s earlier work.
The recent single ‘X‑Ray’ balanced dreamy vocals with bursts of noise, Willow animated and expressive as she carved out shimmering lines. ‘Blade’ and ‘Pattern Repeating’ pushed further into moodier territory with tight, room‑filling instrumentals dropping back to let Cordelia’s voice draw the audience in before rising to meet the noise head‑on.
The reworked ‘Hospital Corners’, introduced as ‘Hospital Corners 2.0’, was a highlight, its stronger bass and flashes of guitar intensity never overwhelming but contrasting the song’s more delicate moments. Cordelia flipped effortlessly between soft phrasing and long, soaring notes that held the room captive. Closer ‘Good’ moved through starkness, thumping drums and a final rock release, ending on another remarkable sustained vocal. It felt like a natural evolution rather than reinvention of a band growing bolder while keeping the emotional nuance that defines her work.
Cordelia Gartside:
Cordelia Gartside – vocals, guitar
Willow Simpson – lead guitar
Tom Ironmonger – bass
Finn Anderson – drums
Cordelia Gartside setlist:
‘Happiness’ (unreleased)
‘X-Ray’ (a 2026 single)
‘Blade’ (unreleased)
‘Pattern Repeating’ (unreleased)
‘Hospital Corners’ (a 2024 single)
‘Good’ (unreleased)
Speedial’s return to Brighton, their second headline show in the city, demonstrated exactly why the London band have been gathering word‑of‑mouth momentum. Even without their usual saxophonist, the band’s cinematic blend of melodic post‑rock, lush harmonies and expansive arrangements remained fully intact.
Opening with ‘Perfume’, Serena Garrod and Millie Rirby delivered stunning dual vocals, their harmonies immediately marking out the breadth of the band’s ambition. Clever bursts and carefully sculpted dynamics gave the track, and their set in general, a richness that sets them apart from the current crop of shoegaze revivalists.
‘An Alter’ pushed into bolder territory, Joe Killick’s driving drums circling around soft, sweet vocals before the song rose into a soaring swell. ‘5,000 Lumens’ shifted the pace again, moving from mellow spoken passages to layered instrumentals and 1990s‑leaning indie vocals from Millie, fading out on a beautifully understated solo line from Serena.
The faster, distortion‑heavier ‘Tourist’ expanded their sound further, its choral touches rising to meet the guitar’s pedal‑driven haze. Unreleased track ‘Limbo’ floated on strong bass and gentle rises, while closer ‘Rot’ held the room with dreamlike harmonies building into louder passages that emphasised the beauty of the quieter moments. Their transitions were effortless, their scope impressive, and their expansive, cinematic sound provided a fitting, transfixing close to an evening defined by atmosphere, evolution and dynamic control.
Speedial:
Serena Garrod – vocals, guitar
Millie Rirby – vocals, bass
Joe Killick – drums
Speedial setlist:
‘Perfume’ (a 2026 single)
‘An Alter’ (from 2025 ‘Light Of The Late Night’ EP)
‘5,000 Lumens’ (a 2024 single)
‘Tourist’ (from 2025 ‘Light Of The Late Night’ EP)
‘Limbo’ (unreleased)
‘Rot’ (from 2025 ‘Light Of The Late Night’ EP)
Taken together, the four artists formed a carefully curated bill: Hitman Sheela’s delicate‑to‑explosive folk atmospherics opened the door; Rhiannon Ruthven’s genre‑fluid volatility stretched the room’s imagination; Cordelia Gartside’s punchier alt‑rock brought clarity, lift and emotional force; and Speedial’s cinematic sweep closed the night in a dreamlike splendour. Another reminder of why Hidden Herd’s showcases continue to be such a vital window into the most exciting new sounds.
