Kidsmoke: International Showcase Fund (SXSW)

Kidsmoke’s shimmering brand of dreamy indie-pop has seen them make waves in their native North Wales. With a sync-feature on Charlie Brooker’s Netflix series Black Mirror under their belts, they burst into 2018 with single Sister Sadness (named one of Steve Lamacq’s ‘6Music Recommends’ tracks of the year), were featured as The Sunday Times’ ‘Breaking Act’ and were invited by Robert Smith (The Cure) to play his Meltdown Festival in support of The Joy Formidable.

The band have spent the summer in the studio with long-time producer Russ Hayes, working on their forthcoming debut album. The lead single Rising Sun marks the start of a campaign that the band have been eager to get underway, with the album taking shape for release in early 2019. For Rising Sun, they took a trip out to sunny West Kirby to record with Domino Records artist and former The Coral guitarist Bill Ryder-Jones.

This ISF award will help fund flights, accommodation, visas and other travel costs for SXSW 2019. Kidsmoke were among the first 50 artists announced for the Texas Festival, which will see the band play their first shows in the USA.