Various Venues, Hackney

Returning for a second year running, the Hackney based Mirrors festival proved that multi-venue events don’t have to consist of big queues, long walks, and unwanted compromises.

Typically at city-based festivals, the bigger acts draw in the majority of the attendees, venues hit capacity, and entry is denied. MIRRORS managed to sidestep this. To begin with, all stages were in five minutes walking distance of one another, including Hackney’s finest: St John at Hackney Church, Oslo and Moth Club. This logistical dream meant that an optimistic plan to watch six bands in fewer than five hours by bouncing between Oslo and Hackney Church three times could actually be accomplished. In practice, this plan was aided by the fact that the venues weren’t over capacity. No queues anywhere. Praise is due to the festival organisers for finding a variety of acts that kept attendance spread between stages whilst seamlessly merging them under the banner of forward thinking artists.

Blisters In The Pit Of My Heart by Martha

The first standout performance from came from Durham pop punk outfit Martha who hit hard. The DIY sweethearts burst into an excruciatingly loud selection of songs from their recent sophomore LP, Blisters In The Pit Of My Heart. Enough to make you believe in the longterm relevancy of the nostalgic genre. 

Confused and buzzing with a childish excitement, I rushed to catch the end of Bill Ryder-Jones in the ever-impressive Hackney Church – Ryder-Jones’ starry-eyed experimental folk was perfectly suited to the space. Oslo called back, promising something with a little more bite. Rising US stars Cherry Glazerr followed by Canadian demigods Fucked Up provided just that. The barrage of noise from the North Americans was impressive, yet as the night drew to a close, the Bat For Lashes closing set in Hackney Church seemed more appropriate for tired legs. Kahn’s voice resonated through the church, seeping into old masonry, creating a real moment to round off a refreshingly stress-free day.