Laneway Festival Singapore 2018 Line-Up Sees More Regional Acts, Return of Hot Favourites
PUBLISHED January 4th, 2018 11:22 am | UPDATED May 18th, 2020 06:35 pm
Calling all indie music lovers! As the annual St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival heads towards its eighth edition (see here for what happened last year) in Singapore on 27 January, we take a look at what to expect from the starry line-up, because just preparing your hippest outfit isn’t enough – you’ve got to know your songs too.
Laneway alums make a comeback
The last time we saw Mac Demarco, it was in 2015, where the goofy Canadian singer-songwriter rocked the stage alongside fellow headliners BANKS and the legendary St Vincent. This year, the award-winning crooner returns to our shores with new material from his mini-EP Another One and third full-length album, This Old Dog – which has been widely praised by the likes of American music platform Pitchfork and British magazine Clash.
Also returning in 2018 is The Internet, the American soul and R&B collective closely associated with acclaimed hip-hop collective Odd Future. Comprising key members Syd and Matt Martians along with several touring members, those who missed out two years back have yet another chance to catch the band live, and you can bet they’re going to be groovy as heck.
A glorious international line-up of first timers
The beauty of festivals is that we always discover some glorious gems we’ve never heard about – and that’s the point of Laneway isn’t it, bringing both prominent names and more obscure musicians to the general public? This time, we’ve got Grammy-nominated hip-hop act Anderson .Paak with his band The Free Nationals leading the charge with tracks from their fantastic second solo album Malibu (no, not the Miley Cyrus song) like ‘Come Down’ and ‘Am I Wrong’.
There’s also the incredible performer, American singer-songwriter Father John Misty, whose latest release Pure Comedy achieved near-perfect scores from critics, Amy Shark from where it all began – Australia – with sleeper hit ‘Adore’, and British alt-rock group and Mercury Prize nominee Wolf Alice.
More regional and local acts
Of course, the regional acts deserve all the attention they can get. The young Malaysian producer ALEXTBH will steel up the floor with his brand of atmospheric music that merges dance electronic and R&B, while Indonesia’s shoegaze and alternative rock quintet HEALS comes fresh from the launch of its debut album Spectrum. Meanwhile, from the Philippines comes The Ransom Collective, the six-piece indie folk band that’s received high praise from music critics and peers since its win in Wanderband, the Philippines equivalent of Singapore’s Baybeats.
On the local front, you have the moustachioed bassist-vocalist Tim De Cotta channelling Stuart Zender, John Legend, and Maxwell in his sonic explorations, as well as the spectorgaze sounds of pop quintet Obedient Wives Club, a recurring name in the local indie scene. You can expect some new tracks from their latest five-track EP Cinematica. Then comes MAS1A, the soul rebel who’s rocked audiences around the globe with her hip-hop lines and dancehall chanting, proving that Singaporeans do indeed have a bit of life in them.
See the full line-up here.
St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival Singapore is happening on Saturday, 27 January 2017, at The Meadow, Gardens by the Bay. Single tickets are priced at $158 (Standard), while group bundles are available at $145 each for 5 or more tickets and $150 each for 3 to 4 tickets – and are available here. Stay tuned to the official Facebook page for more details.
