Advertorial feature CMAT, English Teacher, Clarissa Connelly & more: A look at ESNS 2024’s European Talent Exchange

What we said after ESNS 2024: “Readers of DIY will know our pledge of allegiance to the church of CMAT by now. But nonetheless, there’s still something impressive about seeing Ireland’s most fabulous export winning over a crowd as initially arms-folded as this. Coming off the back of a sold-out UK tour, tonight’s gathering of the largely uninitiated is clearly a harder gig to work, but CMAT refuses to give in - rallying for whoops and cheers, and giving gags-a-plenty alongside a belting vocal performance. “I like cheese and stuff,” she nods of the region’s dairy predilection. “Speaking of cheese, here’s my music!” Campy it may certainly be, but there’s far too much meat on the bones of these songs for that.”

Since then: CMAT’s had quite the year, with her sophomore album ‘Crazymad, For Me’ being shortlisted for both an Ivor Novello and the Mercury Prize, as well as a slew of festival appearances including slots at Kendal Calling, Best Kept Secret,, End of The Road, Metronome, TRNSMT; the five bookings she earned post-ESNS.

What we said after ESNS 2024: “With a truly jaw-dropping vocal range that stretches from Nico-like sonorous baritone to the highest of falsetto via moments that are almost yodel-adjacent, Scotland-born, Denmark-based Clarissa Connelly is in possession of an instrument like no other. She uses it to full advantage, too. At points, the set is heady and heavy, bringing to mind the cerebral piano crashes of Radiohead; at others, her idiosyncratic melodies could be filed next to Aldous Harding or Cate Le Bon. It’s an amorphous canon that makes for a truly special moment against the backdrop of Stadsschouwburg’s theatrical stage.”

Since then: Following her appearance in Groningen this year, Clarissa released her debut full-length ‘World of Work’ via her label home of Warp Records, before sharing her latest, fairytale-inspired single ‘Give It Back’ back in October. She also bagged three festival bookings during her time at ESNS, for End of The Road, Flow and Way Out West fests. 

What we said after ESNS 2024: “Belgian indie-punk quintet Ada Oda personify the barrier-less power of music in its most infectious form. Vocalist Victoria Barracato sings entirely in Italian, but with a set that ranges from Strokes-like hooks to bouncy, Le Tigre-esque party bangers via big, psychy wig outs, it doesn’t matter one jot that a large majority of the packed room can’t speak the language. Instead, clambering atop her guitarist’s shoulders and inciting an indie disco dance session, Barracato is the ringleader of a boundary-less, giddy knees-up.”

Since then: Having caught the attention of a series of festival bookers - they were invited to play at five this summer including Les 3 Éléphants, Best Kept Secret, MENT Ljubljana, Mercat de Música Viva de Vic, and Reeperbahn - the five-piece have just announced plans to release a brand new album early next year, and they’ve appeared on Music For Iran’s recent compilation release Palestine Solidarity Mix.  

What we said after ESNS 2024: “It is difficult to overstate, heading into English Teacher’s just-announced debut album ‘This Could Be Texas’, just how far the band have come from the slightly post-punky indie kids that first graced our stages only a few years back. The tracks that fall into that camp are evolved and multifaceted (see: last year’s ‘The World’s Biggest Paving Slab’), but Lily Fontaine’s vocals have stepped to the fore to enable the Leeds outfit to stretch far beyond those confines and into huge, affective, anthemic territory. Skyward new single ‘Albert Road’ is but one moment in a set of many that underlines the band’s equally limitless potential.”

Since then: Despite still being at a rather early juncture in their career, 2024 has arguably been the definitive year of English Teacher. Not only did the Yorkshire quartet release their incredible debut album ‘This Could Be Texas’, but they managed to win the Mercury Prize for it too. They’ve also played an almost insane number of shows across the year, with some of their highlights being this year’s festival season. After their set at ESNS, they were signed up to play a staggering nine of them! Casual. 

What we said after ESNS 2024: “Tall and lithe, with the sort of hair that The Horrors of yore would be proud of, it’s no surprise that the Netherlands’ own Tramhaus make the sort of darkly motorik post-punk best suited to low-ceilinged rooms full of monochromatically-clad goths. Hometown(ish) heroes, however, they draw a heaving crowd to MAAS’s main space. They might not be breaking wildly new ground, but their brittle, occasionally brutal wares are a worthy addition to the canon.”

Since then: After more than impressing at ESNS with their gnarly brand of post-punk, it was just a few months ago that the outfit shared their breakneck-paced debut ‘The First Exit’, after a slew of live shows and festival appearances. They included five bookings that they earned whilst at Eurosonic, at Primavera Sound, Tallinn Music Week, Release Athens Festival, Taksirat, and Haldern Pop festivals 

Check out the full list of festival bookings over on the European Talent Exchange website now.

This advertorial feature is brought to you in partnership with the ESNS European Talent Exchange.

Tags: Features, Advertorial feature, Clarissa Connelly, CMAT, English Teacher