I hadn’t planned to do an Arctangent write up, but it was such an amazing weekend, and I saw so many great acts that I felt I really had to. (Annoyingly, I have shitloads of other stuff to be doing, but hey ho.) Year three for me, and probably the best one so far. I’ve a few comments on the festival itself and then I’ll talk about the bands.
My third year of staying in the Solo camping area, and it’s still the most welcoming place in a festival, that is already the most friendly one I’ve been too. Wednesday was just filled with arrivals, delighted to see old friends from previous years and meeting new people. I wouldn’t want to camp anywhere else.
More picnic benches were a very welcome addition.
The sound quality, especially in the main arena was amazing, with only one band I watched suffering from noticeably poor sound.
The overall vibe is amazing, it’s such a welcoming space, with people who are so friendly and will just chat to anyone. I’ve never encountered anywhere like it.
Most importantly however, Bunnychow was back on form after a poor showing last year. But dear Jesus, that 50/50 mix is still pure fire.
Also, shout out to the Greek stall for tasty food that was value for money. Love it. Oh, and shout out to the Shangri-la ipa. That was the good stuff.
Now, let’s talk music.
I saw 39 bands over the 4 days. That’s a lot of music and here are some of the highlights.
Wednesday
So, starting the festival with Swamp Coffin really is throwing down the gauntlet for the weekend. Huge riffs, lots of fun, and the slowest wall of death made for a really enjoyable start to the day.
Even though Overhead,The Albatross were a man down, they took to the stage and showed that their unique mix of electronica and post rock can fill a stage of any size. However, I may start to hold a grudge against them as their closing song, Paul Lynch made me cry. Again.
What a band.
Lost in Kyiv blew me away in 2025. They were my first band of the weekend and won me over in minutes, and 2026 was no different. Their new album leans heavier than their older material and they delivered everything I could have hoped for and more, with a fantastic set that was a delight to get lost into. No pun intended.
Thursday
I don’t think anyone was ready for IAN. I mean, I like the album, I featured them here when the album was released, but live? With the full PA in the ATG main arena? Nope. I had no idea they could do that. My shorthand for the band is Godspeed crossed with Neurosis and that’s what we got. Pretty, cello laden post rock, which switched at a moment’s notice to truly face melting post metal. My guess is that we’ll be seeing a lot more of IAN at ATG over the next few years.
L.O.E (Last of Eden) suffered a bit following on from IAN. My ears were still ringing during their first two songs, but once they locked into the band, it was a great set of some of the most uplifting post rock of the weekend. I’ve said it before, so I’ll say it again, I really love that Tom Waits reading they sample. Magic stuff.
HAAL are a band who released some really promising singles, then released an EP that was far too indebted to Slint for my liking. Now, there’s a lot of that about, and Slint are great, but I was hoping for something more interesting from them. And it looks like the band have realised that too. Leaning into the more electronic side of their sound, HAAL brought some tasty post rock, and laced it with some really atmospheric synths, not only that though, they were using a 303, and I will always have a soft spot for some acid squelch. HAAL are still a young act, and I’m back to being really excited to see where they go next.
If James Scarlet has his way, Psychonaut will be the ATG house band, and I have no issues with this at all. They are an absolute force of nature, and they had the crowd eating out of the palm of their hands. Jaw dropping skill, while still remembering that even if you are a prog band, you should write hooks.
After Nordic Giants, I had to go straight back to my tent to have a sit down and a beer. As I was sitting in the sun, one of my friends arrived back at the tent, ashen faced and a bit stunned looking. Nordic Giants? I asked. Nordic Giants he confirmed.
I have never seen anything like this set. I go to ATG; I’m used to intense music. The entire population of ATG relaxes to music that would have most people running for the hills, but the combination of that music, with those films (They are far more than visuals) were like nothing I ever seen the like of. I was just lost in the whole experience. The music was beautiful, one of the best examples of electronic post rock, but I was emotionally brutalised by the end of the film predicting the extinction of all life on earth. I won’t explain it in more detail, as you should see them yourself, unspoiled, but fuck me, it was devastating.
Alcest’s bus broke down on the way to the festival and as a result we only got a thirty minute set. But what a set. They proved that they will always be the blackgaze OGs, and while their albums may be a bit overly restrained, live, they have no such issues. Shout out to the tech crew who went from an empty stage to the band playing without a hitch in twenty minutes, I hope you all got a bonus for that.
I was only vaguely aware of Igorrr going into this festival, I know they were weird but had no idea what I was really in for. I have never seen anything close to the show they delivered. The mixing of classical, opera, IDM / dnb, metal is so original as to be approaching madness. I’m pretty sure I even heard some flamenco there at one point. The show was so tightly choreographed, it was almost musical theater, but at a festival where some acts believe standing and staring at your guitar pedals is showmanship, it’s very welcome.
Friday
Wildernesses may be a new band, but the members are a, how do I put this delicately, mature, bunch of musicians. Which explains how they managed such a fully formed debut album. The only problem with their set of alt rock and post rock is that it was only thirty minutes long.
I love catching bands at the stage Night Swimming are at. Still finding their feet on stage, but already good enough to make it clear that they have the talent, and if they’re lucky, this will be a bragging rights gig for us. To say we have seen them this early in their career. It’s very easy for a band that has this delicate a sound to get swamped at ATG, but NS easily held their own with their lush take on shoegaze.
I’m not sure if it’s the festival that pushes bands to up their game, or that the bands are just this good, but I’m running out of superlatives as I write this round up. Barrens are yet another band that left me speechless. While their album, Corpse Lights is very good, I really wasn’t expecting the intensity and sheer attack that the band brought to their brand of post metal. Hopefully they’ll be back next year as well.
I had very little idea who ZAHN were as I walked into the tent for their set. I knew that they were proggy post rock, and to be honest, that was enough to get my interest. However, my poor body was starting to let me know that all this standing up was getting a bit much. So, I went to the back of the tent and sat down. It felt like I blinked and the set was over. Their analogue synths and post rock combined to enthrall me in a way I hadn’t felt before, i really wasn’t expecting to get totally lost in the music the way I did. They’re now on my must see again list and hope they’ll be back for next year.
After watching one song of Primus and confirming what I’ve thought of them since the 90’s, I headed off to the PSX to catch some filthy techno from Scaler. The difference between the band’s albums and live is ridiculous. Their albums are pretty tame, but live they are a force of nature. While the band’s cross of metal and techno may have veered more in the direction of techno, it hasn’t gotten any lighter and the band came charging out the gate from the first beat. That late in the day, the flesh was weak, but every time I thought about calling it a night, the band got more intense and I kept dancing. Scaler really are the best at what they do, I just wish they would sound like this on record.
Saturday
After wandering out of the two promoters’ set, I had to ask the question, do I really want to put myself through something as filthy as Pleb at eleven in the morning? And the answer was yes. This is ATG, and both fear and hangovers are for the weak. The Leeds duo played what can only be described as a filthy, sludgy, blistering noise, that was an assault on the senses. Obviously, it was great. Also, shout out to the drummer for being funny and having great politics.
For me, one of the best things about ATG is watching small bands playing to huge crowds. Take Din of Celestial Birds. They’re supporting Telepathy in London later this year (If you can, you should go to this), but here they are on the second biggest stage of the festival, and it’s nearly full. The excitement was palpable from the crowd, but even more so from the band, who were having the time of their lives. One of the guitarists got so overwhelmed that he spent the last two songs in tears, and he wasn’t the only one by the time the band finished their set.
I was lucky enough to get a review copy of the new Din of Celestial Birds album well before it was released so I knew exactly how good this set was going to be but I couldn’t have expected what we got. Din’s music has so much light and hope in it that it was a joy to experience, and a welcome respite from the darker side of ATG. Hopefully, this set will bring DoCB to a much bigger audience.
I wasn’t sure about Oathbreaker. I saw them on their last tour, and the gig really didn’t work for me, so I never went back to listen to them again. But dear god was I not ready for what happened. Rheia is an almost absurdly full on album, its almost feral aggression combined with some transcendent post rock, soundtracks some incredibly dark lyrics about Caro Tanghe’s childhood. It was like standing in front of a blast furnace of trauma. Which may not sound like fun, and fun is most definitely not the word I would use to describe this performance, but it was was undoubtedly the most intense set by a band I’ve ever seen, and it stayed that way for about 3 hours.
I never got Chat Pile, but there was enough of a buzz to make me want to check them out. However it took one song and one bit of stage banter from the singer for everything to make sense and to realise that all the gushing praise for this band had been right.
Stripped to just a pair of shorts, paunch hanging over the waistband, the vocalist, Raygun Busch, struck an odd figure as he wandered the stage, while his band played some of the more furious music of the weekend. His stage banter about festival / concert films was as informative as it was odd, with even his bandmates cracking up with the material he was coming out with. Chat Pile are now down as another must see band after this weekend.
EIVØR was another outlier for me. Her latest album feels like electronic goth, crossed with Kate Bush and Heilung. I mean, that’s pretty odd, but as you’ll have noticed if you’ve read this far, that’s how this festival rolls. Again, I had no idea how this was going to play live, but EIVØR are obviously a well honed act, and I was just mesmerised. Eivør herself, is a consummate performer and held the crowd as she effortlessly switched vocal styles up, reminding me of Mike Patton on Upp úr Øskuni. It was an unexpected set, and I think that made it even better.
I’m not sure I’m ever going to see anything to compare to the Cult of Luna & Julie Christmas set that finished the festival. Someone described Mariner as post metal being completed and that’s hard to argue after this performance. Normally, I find album playthroughs boring, but when the Johanas’ roar ripped through the tent at the beginning of A Greater Call, it was very clear we were in for something more than special. This felt like a once in a lifetime event. And that’s exactly what it was. I didn’t think the band could top The Wreck of the S.S Needle, but Cygnus was somehow even more overwhelming.
I have never experienced anything like the assault of lights and audio, and as the crowd roar at the end of the set died down and people stumbled into the night, it became very clear Fernhill Farm had the best possible send off.
I bought my ticket an hour after getting home on the Sunday after the festival, so I’m looking forward to seeing most of you again next year, while we rub elbows with the Chipping Norton set!
The ways of exile 