Karousel Music presents:
East London Showcase - SESAC x KAROUSEL
Penny Police + Beauty Sleep + Virgin Suicide + Michael Malarkey + Tom Copson
This is our last East London showcase of 2017 with our great friends at SESAC. Tonight sees two acts from Denmark - few places are creating so much incredible music at the moment, and Penny Police and Virgin Suicide are right up there. We've been working with Penny Police for 3 years now, and seeing the development of her into an act ready to take on the world has been one of the great privileges of working at Karousel.
We've yet another blinding act from Northern Ireland, from the stable of Lyndon Stephens' Champion Sound Management, and the locals are represented by the superb americana-folk artist Tom Copson. We're also delighted to say that Michael Malarkey will be making a last minute guest appearance. He has a killer new record 'Mongrels' and is dropping in ahead of the European leg of his tour.
Before the show, ARTIST and MANAGER friends are invited to come along, join ourselves and SESAC at the networking hangout and say hi to our friends from Music Glue who will be coming down to tell you what services they offer for artists.
Listen below for playlist and videos.
Line Up
“…her work remains spellbinding…Pristine Nordic pop at it’s very best” - Record of The Day “It’s taken Penny Police a while to get back here, but it’s been worth the wait… sweepingly majestic” - The Line Of Best Fit “She’s great. It was obvious from the beginning that she was, and she will remain so”. – Kieron Tyler (Mojo Magazine)
Danish artist Marie Fjeldsted aka Penny Police releases her new single Train Talk (Don’t Ask Me About Love) November 3rd via Antiphonics/Phonofile. The single is the title track from her coming EP, which is due early next year. In the spring she released the single “No Horizon” which garnered a healthy amount of attention after a couple of years out: not only in Denmark where the song was - and still is - in heavy rotation on national radio, but also in UK where The Line Of Best Fit, JaJaJa and Amazing Radio among others have been loyal supporters. The song won Amazing Radio’s Alternative Eurovision, competing with songs from across Europe.
Having played a glorious sold out show at Karousel’s Alternative Escape show at the Marlborough Theatre back in May, she was also named as one of the Best of Showcase at the preceding Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg. We’re yet to put her on a show where people didn’t fall in love.
PENNY POLICE - DANISH REVIEWS
“Fjeldsted sings and plays pop, but she does it with a musicality and nerve that lifts her compositions far beyond the mainstream...” - JYDSKE VESTKYSTEN – 5***** “ There is not one bad track on the disc, which is at its best when Fjeldsted's voice is allowed to control the battle. It happens majestically in ‘I Do Care’ and ‘Too Full a Heart’, both immensely beautiful ballads..." - UNDERTONER 5***** – Sink or Sail EP " ...a voice full of airiness and grace, Penny Police has created an unlikely fine debut. All tracks have a rare closeness that could give even the most hard-boiled heart the chills...” - SOUNDVENUE 5***** "A wonderful album with strangely poetic pop music..." - FEMINA 5***** "Penny Police has conquered her own niche. Each song has its own strength and expression..." – LYDTAPET 5***** "Penny Police captivates! ... each and every touch conjures an intimacy which links the listener to the album and Fjeldsted's vocals. " - BERLINGSKE 4**** “How I have cheated myself for some good listening experiences! I have known the name Penny Police, yes, but Friday night was the first time I became acquainted with Fjeldsted's beautiful vocals, graceful lyricism and charming manner... Delicious and complete...” – GAFFA 5***** “ There is little doubt that Penny Police is a musician of talent, who plays with an ease - and a tremendous sense of composure – that many live acts all too often lack...” THE COPENHAGEN POST 4**** “...fantastic, innocent, enchanting and clear vocals, I got goose bumps from another dimension...” - UNDERTONER 5***** – The Broken, The Beggar, The Thief
“Sighing harmonies, gorgeous psych-speckled guitar lines, the band have all the ingredients of a cult property.”** - Clash Magazine** “Sounds like a mix of Phoenix and Beach House and occupies the dreamy end of the guitar-pop spectrum” - The Irish Times "Carved out of ambitious, and fully realised, production and infectious hook-driven songwriting, Beauty Sleep sound perfectly formed." - The Last Mixed Tape “Bubbling with heart and a soaring hook that showcases another dimension” - Indie Shuffle "The Beauty Sleep live display is a rip-roaring, hip swinging experience that puts the band more in the indie dance camp than anything else. Trading vocals as well as guitars and synths, they are infectious in their exuberance and hugely impressive in the song department." (State Magazine)
Cheylene, Ryan and Aimee met at a Belfast house party spelling out naughty words on a fridge-magnet-crossword. Post hangovers, they decided to make music together and Beauty Sleep was born. It was in their home studio they really honed in their sound, creating a synthy, guitar-riff and pop-hook haven that Two Door Cinema Club, Phoenix and Chvrches fans will fall in love with.
Beauty Sleep's first two singles ‘The Dark,’ and ‘Living Right’ have gained over 110,00 plays on Spotify, 80,000 plays on Soundcloud, support from BBC Radio One, 98FM, TXFM, Amazing Radio and had both singles named track of the day on BBC Radio Ulsters Across The Line. Beauty Sleep have been featured in The Irish Times, Indie Shuffle, Clash Magazine and many other blogs based as far as New York and Tokyo and had ‘The Dark’ charting at number 11 on Hype Machine’s no remixes chart for a week.
Beauty Sleep has spent their first year touring around Ireland, playing festivals such as Electric Picnic, Other Voices & Output Festival, supporting All Tvvins, Silences & Orchid Collective as well as opening for Pleasure Beach on their Irish Tour. Filled with inspiration Beauty Sleep have been spending a lot of time in the studio recording their debut EP, which will be released May 2017.
You can hear Beauty Sleep's first two singles ‘The Dark’ and ‘Living Right’ on Spotify, Apple Music & Soundcloud now.
“Baggy janglers with a pop sheen and a miserablist attitude” - The Guardian
The Scandinavian Shoegazers follow up on lead single ‘Burnout’ with their forthcoming LP’s triumphant title track and opener, ‘Forever Trouble’. Once again the big guitars, distant vocals and melancholic harmonies fill a big space with the signature blood-soaked, pop-tainted echoes of the Danish five-piece. Swelling synthesizers cloak the production with an air of purity and a delicate finish – with all the makings of a future fan favourite. Their retro sound embraces elements relatable to ‘Mellon Collie’ era Smashing Pumpkins and a number of early Brit-pop and baggy-rock influences - The Stone Roses, The Cure and Ride all spring to mind. The fuzzy, phasing instrumentation noticeably nods to its cultural roots, but with it comes a refreshing breath of Nordic air.
The firm Danish radio favourites gained A-list rotation for their self-titled debut release in 2015, alongside due recognition from style icons Fred Perry, and further support from international outlets such as The Guardian, Noisey and Red Bull. ‘Forever Trouble’ cements itself as a textbook example of the perfect jangler anthem, in keeping with the rest of the upcoming release.
Born in Beirut, Lebanon to an Irish-American father and an English mother of Italian/Arab descent, Michael grew up in Yellow Springs, Ohio before moving to London in 2006 where he trained at the London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art (LAMDA). He got his first break playing the lead in both Spring Storm by Tennessee Williams & Beyond the Horizon by Eugene O’Neill in tandem at the Royal & Derngate, Northampton which garnered huge critical acclaim and transferred to the National Theatre, London for a sold out run. He continued to work in the theatre playing a number of roles including “Jay Gatsby” in The Great Gatsby and “Elvis Presley” in the Original London Company of Million Dollar Quartet in the West End before opting to focus more on the screen. He completed work on Mr. Sloane for Sky, a regular role on RAW for RTÉ and “Prince Maxon” in The Selection for the CW before landing the role of “Lorenzo” in The Vampire Diaries which he is currently filming as a series regular. Michael is also a singer/songwriter and has just released his debut EP, "Feed The Flames."
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Having performed on the heights of Mount Byron in the Falkland Islands, to living rooms and street corners in Australia and across Europe, lately Tom has been burrowed away in an English barn not far from London converting beautiful words and melodies into tangible songs.
The first of these songs, ‘High Hopes’ and ‘Hurricane Head' were self-released online in July and will also be available on 7 inch vinyl in December. Influenced by the likes of Sufjan Stevens and Damien Rice, Tom delivers often stark but hopeful lyrics about his experiences and the future. Musically he combines his trusted, well loved acoustic guitar (that he calls his 'wife') with an omnichord, subtle synths, and strings to build beautiful arrangements.
