Pitchfork Music Festival London 2022: A celebration of the most exciting acts
For well over a decade, I’ve suffered from serious FOMO every July as I glue myself to YouTube, watching clips of my favourite acts regale Chicago at the annual Pitchfork Music Festival. The event has been a bastion of alternative culture, and since it opened its Paris leg in 2011, the opportunity to cross the channel and get amongst it has eluded me. However, in 2021, a change would solve my problems. The Pitchfork Music Festival finally arrived in London with its inaugural edition and, building on that success, came back for round two.
The Pitchfork Music Festival London took place between November 9th- 13th across a host of the capital’s most exciting spaces, including 60 Dock Road, Colour Factory, Earth, Fabric, ICA, Islington Assembly Hall, Oslo, Paper Dress Vintage, The Shacklewell Arms, St. Matthis Church, The Albany, The Roundhouse and Village Underground.
The event came with an extensive lineup that touched on a number of varying genres, from the most experimental electronic to art rock. I was initially most excited to witness the boundary-pushing Philadelphia alternative act The Spirit of the Beehive, but they announced in early October that they had pulled out of their European tour for “personal reasons”.
That disappointment aside, the highlight of the week came on Friday 11th, at Earth, courtesy of drone master William Basinski, who played a set of fan favourites and ended with the timeless cut, ‘melancholia ii’ – the aural embodiment of tripping on ketamine. Prior to his performance, I also caught the last part of Jenny Hval’s set, which ended with the singer writhing on the floor as if possessed, with the mesmerising sounds of her band pulsating throughout the strange shape of the old theatre.
That night, the other standout performance came at the Shacklewell Arms from New York heartland rock masters Wild Pink. I was particularly blown away by the tone of frontman John Ross’ Fender Jazzmaster at parts, and I did tell him this in passing, but he must have thought it the ramblings of a drunken madman.
Outside of these three performances, five other artists were outstanding. The first was buzzy London rockers Black Country, New Road at the ICA on Wednesday evening. They performed for around 45 minutes and proved to everyone in attendance that they are doing just fine following frontman Isaac Wood’s departure earlier this year.
Prior to this, on Thursday, the Islington Assembly Hall welcomed two exciting acts to its stage. The first was the vibrant MICHELLE, a decidedly modern outfit that blew us away with their genre-bending set that was in parts ethereal and others energising. Not long after this, saving no time to process their brilliance, was Faye Webster, the American songstress whose sugary melodies and nostalgic form of indie pop was a perfect way to end the evening.
It was only fitting that Sunday would be closed out by two legends in their own right as Cate Le Bon and Courtney Barnett took to the stage at Camden venue, The Roundhouse. Experimental Welsh songwriter Le Bon delivered a career-spanning set that ranged from folk to art pop before Melbourne’s finest, Courtney Barnett, also played a mix of old anthems and new pieces that confirmed just how excellent of a songwriter she is.
See some images of the event below, courtesy of Raph Pour-Hashemi.
