A Hot Summers day in our nations capital, with Justin Bieber headlining the Great Oak stage the fifth BST (British Summer Time) Hyde Park, we were pleased to be able to attend, and have our very own Jack Sims interview some of the finest acts at what turned out to be the biggest BST event to date. Interviews include Dagny, Etham, Sarah Close, Skinny Living, James Hersey, Sheppard, Will Heard and Mabel Mcvey.
First up Jack caught up with critically acclaimed Norwegian artist Dagny. Hailing from Tromsø, Norway — Dagny (Norvoll Sandvik) has consistently impressed ever since her breakthrough debut single ‘Backbeat’ towards the end of 2015.
Daughter of jazz guitarist/composer Øystein Norvoll and jazz singer Marit Sandvik – in many ways, Dagny’s music reflects her personality – a quirky, endearing pop sound infused with a huge dose of contagious youthful optimism. She talks about the inspiration behind her new single Wearing Nothing.
Dagny explained: “We wanted to write a song that’s obviously playing on the idea of being naked with someone but it’s also talking about when you meet someone that makes you feel like you want to be completely bare with nothing in between, to completely open up. It’s quite a rare thing to meet someone that makes you feel like this.”
Multi-instrumentalist Etham talks about how the look of the guitar inspired him to want to learn to play music. He also tells us he releases an acoustic EP in September, then new single ‘Control’ on Spotify in July.
After unveiling the crystalline off-kilter pop of her incredible debut ‘Call Me Out’, Sarah Close went from messing around with a karaoke machine as a child to playing festivals. She released her EP in April and has her first tour in September. There’s no doubt that Sarah is a force to be reckoned with. In a world in which the persona of a musician is planned and micromanaged to the tightest degree, Sarah Close feels refreshing, real and immediately relatable.
