The Manchester multi-venue festival returns this Saturday with a rich and diverse lineup.

This Saturday, Fair Play Festival returns to the city of Manchester, spilling its eclectic line up of artists into the eager arms of a carefully selected list of iconic venues. The clue is in the name; the beating heart of Fair Play’s curation is inclusivity and diversity of sound. The all-dayer will be a shining reminder of the vast array of talent and experimentation which contemporary music around the globe has to offer.

After two years of sell-out success, the festival is growing with its popularity, this year adding the venerable Band on the Wall venue to its repertoire of spaces. Staying loyal to their commitment to subsidising tickets for low-income fans and paying their musicians fairly, Fair Play is boldly setting the standard for day festivals around the UK.

With only three more restless sleeps to go, here are four artists that we will be watching, with some familiar faces and some blissfully rude awakenings…

uh

With LP ‘humanus’ coming up to its one-year anniversary, sibling duo uh are a force of nature. They masterfully juggle fizzing electro beats, colourful siren-like melodies and maddening live hardware experimentation. Tracks like ‘500 ascended,’ with its entrancing sound, feel like being slowly boiled alive sonic lobster style. ‘comfortable’ alternatively has the effect of a rubber ball being bounced between your ears. They are theatrically electronic, bringing a pulsating wildness to their synth-pop jams.

Skydaddy

Skydaddy, the moniker of Rachid Fakhre, is a shaman of the ballad. His sound is velvety and oh so sincere. Early February this year, Skydaddy’s ‘Pilot’ proved itself to be a jazzy, orchestral, and intimate tonic of an EP. Live performances are like stumbling across someone bashfully confessing something intimate. It is ineffably moving, harmonically indulgent and residually hopeful. Drawing from his Lebanese heritage, collaborative influences, and multi-instrumental ability; Skydaddy will be a warm embrace for those coming in from the April showers.

Marie Davidson

Grammy nominee, techno queen and French rock superfan Marie Davidson’s techno-pop dance anthems are intoxicating. ‘Y.A.A.M’ Davidson’s most recent single, is angsty, irresistibly sharp and driven. Davidson’s appeal is undoubtedly tangled with her defiance of the ‘club track’ pigeonhole, she refuses to plateau in any one genre. Anticipate a set dripping with variety, fiery lyrical indictments, and imperative dance enthusiasm.

The New Eves

The New Eves are skipping, cartwheeling, pirouetting troupe. Their feverish exploration of multifarious sound and bucolic aesthetic strings together a countercultural defence of pure emotion. There is a mischievousness woven into their folk, punk, chanting fusion. They would not be out of place in the court of an occult king as sonic jesters, or perhaps a group of bandits. Their recent track ‘Astrolabe’ is irreverent and gutting, with pelting vocals set in shadowy strings. Keep an eye on your pockets after their set; a token of their enchanting spirit may linger, perhaps a stray petal or two…