End of the Road has announced that Beirut, Michael Kiwanuka, Metronomy and Spiritualized will be headlining the festival this year, hosted at Larmer Tree Gardens, on the Wiltshire-Dorset border, from 29 August to 1 September.
Beirut, the whimsical, brass-laden project of singer-songwriter Zach Condon, are gearing up to release their fifth album Gallipoli this week, and their slot is the only headline appearance the band are making in the UK this year. British soul musician Kiwanuka supported Adele on her world tour in 2011 and won the BBC’s Sound of 2012 poll; more recently won the 2017 Ivor Novello award for best song, for his politically engaged Black Man In a White World. This is his first major festival headline slot, and suggests new material will be released later this year.
Indie disco staples Metronomy are celebrating their 10th anniversary this year with a reissue of their debut album, ahead of a new studio LP. Their most recent single, 2016’s Hang Me Out to Dry, featured Robyn – the band’s songwriter Joseph Mount went on to co-write her 2018 album Honey. Spiritualized meanwhile will be showcasing their eighth studio album And Nothing Hurt – their first album in six years – during their own headline slot.
Deadpan Australian singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett will also be performing, while Jarvis Cocker, former frontman of Pulp, will be presenting his new full-band project JARV IS, performing both old and new songs. Irascible British punk minimalists Sleaford Mods, American slowcore veterans Low, and magnetic Japanese-American songwriter Mitski are among the other critically acclaimed acts, alongside Deerhunter, Cass McCombs, Let’s Eat Grandma and others.
Leftfield electronic music will come from Daniel Avery, Yves Tumor and Oliver Coates, while stars from the massively vibrant young UK jazz scene, such as Nubya Garcia, Moses Boyd and all-female band Nérija, will also appear. On the heavier side of things are post-punks Wire and Beak>, garage punks Parquet Courts and Viagra Boys, and noisy psych-rockers Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs and Bilge Pump.
• End of the Road festival, Larmer Tree Gardens, 29 August-1 September.
