The Brecon Beacons festival announces the five artists competing to open the Mountain Stage this year.

As well as its uniquely beautiful mountainside setup, its consistently brilliant lineups and the litany of beers on the menu, Green Man Festival has a strong reputation for spotlighting new talent through its Rising branch. At the festival itself, the Rising Stage has played host to festival debuts by the likes of black midi, Black Country New Road, Dry Cleaning and, last year, The Last Dinner Party. Beyond this, their Rising framework has become a key pillar of the festival’s identity, centring around their Apply to Play competition.

This year, a list of almost 1000 applicants was whittled down to a strong longlist of 25 who, after votes from a range of industry insiders, were further filtered into a shortlist of 5. Of these, all will play the festival, with the winners earning the further prize of opening the Mountain Stage. These finalists battle it out at Clwb Ifor Bach in Cardiff on 13^th June in front of a panel of judges, with free tickets also publicly available. So, who has made it this far?

ladylike

We were big fans of Brighton four-piece ladylike’s debut single ‘Southbound,’ which released last November. There is a combination of intimacy and noisy intensity to their sound that is reminiscent of English Teacher’s early material, tied together by thoughtful and engagingly meandering lyrics.

Mari Mathias

The only Welsh native on the shortlist, Mathias creates delicate and richly detailed arrangements out of folk reference points from West Wales and Pembrokeshire. Recent single ‘Pan O’wn y Gwanwyn’ ranges idiosyncratically through ideas with a water-like natural flow, flashes of psych vividity appearing without feeling gratuitous.

Nature Kids

Eminent janglers based out of Leeds, Nature Kids, as the name suggests, take a few cues from the Pavement extended universe. Their sound is willfully ramshackle, an easeful charm screening trouble beneath the surface. Singer Rory Welbrook guides us between moods, often shifting meaning within the syllables of one sensitively wobbled line.

The Orchestra (For Now)

Recent mainstays of the Windmill and self-styled inheritors to the influence of the likes of Black Country, New Road and Ethan P. Flynn, The Orchestra (For Now) create richly layered music that shifts between intricate richness and staccato flare-ups. Lyrics set the songs firmly in the present, teasingly jumping between the sincere and the tounge-in-cheek. With a fast-growing reputation built purely on live shows, they will put up formidable competition in Cardiff.

TTSSFU

A perfect combination of dreamy atmospheres and rock immediacy, TTSSFU is a Manchester-based DIY artist who proudly attests to still using GarageBand. Rather than settling for the self-absorption of shoegaze, her songs have the assertive pop purpose that makes bands like Alvvays so powerful. There is something uniquely addictive to her music, which gives more with every repeat listen.