"Stornoway are the most marvellous thing we've seen in ages: in their brief set, not one song was less than lovely, and they immediately became Our New Favourite Band. You can hear bits of Belle and Sebastian and Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, but we were also reminded of XTC's more pastoral moments." - The Guardian

"Already being hailed as the UK's answer to the hugely talented Fleet Foxes, Stornoway are endowed with a natural ability to write that very earthy, rooted folk; mined deep from the land it was conceived in. Their choral harmonies and use of strings and improvised instruments is also reminiscent of U.S. bluegrass, but what sets them apart and gives them their further mysterious magnetism is singer and songwriter Brian Briggs' exceptional ear for that very distinctive of sounds - the British pop melody." - Rough Trade, June '09

 

"Perhaps the most academically over-qualified pop act in the country, Stornoway contains two doctors (one of medicine), a Russian translator, a soon-to-be chemistry graduate and an aspiring environmental scientist... Stornoway's sound is like shifting sand: a mixture of acoustic pastorals, pop balladry and folkedelia... You can't help but compare Stornoway's energetic folk-pop sound to that of Guillemots, though front man Brian Briggs has a quieter charisma than Fyfe Dangerfield. Briggs's vocal is equal parts Nick Drake and Nico; a Home Counties reserve mixed with an arch and slightly alien pronunciation. His banter between songs, meanwhile, consists of natural historical facts that he seems to have culled from Wikipedia during the afternoon. Thus we learn that rats can last longer without water than a camel, and that Alberta, Canada, is entirely rat-free. The eccentric touches, though, manage to be charming rather than irritating."  - The Independent

 

Main support are Magic Arm. Hailed by Iron & Wine's Samuel Beam as 'the master of the loop pedal', multi instrumentalist Marc Rigelsford released his debut album, 'Widths and Heights,' on Switchflicker Records in July. Splendidly eclectic, 'Widths and Heights' is a masterpiece of musicianship, with layers of sounds, bleeps and vocals all fighting for supremacy over each other, yet working side by side to produce a playfully organic gem, whilst at the same time serving the best interests of pop music.

 

"Now and then, a record comes along which you can't ignore; a record which really does sound like waves of lysergic happiness lapping against your cerebral cortex." - Guardian Guide

 

"There is a fearlessly ambitious imagination at work on these seven tracks; psych-folk, Casio-pop, lo-fi electronica, and much more, the

unifying factor here is excellence...It is, in short, a work of understated magnificence." - Drowned in Sound

 

"Haunting" is a word too often used in reviews, especially where singer-songwriters are concerned. In the case of Shona Foster, however, it's a word that barely begins to describe her delicately unnerving music. Like Portishead ditching the drum machines or Kate Bush holidaying in the Balkans, there is more than a flutter of gothic romance: the architectural tangents taken by piano, violins, oboe and of course Shona's despairing vocal, are enough to silence the noisiest of rooms.