Tickets are now available for a new music and arts festival in the Estonian city of Narva, a unique east-meets-west location by the Russian border, taking place September 21-23.
Dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Estonia, the lineup is headed up by grandmasters of northern nocturnal pop Echo & the Bunnymen and the cerebral electronic music producer Actress.
The festival is powered by Telia and supported by the Narva City, the Nordic Council of Ministers' Office in Estonia, the European Commission Representation in Estonia, the Finnish Institute in Estonia, the Swedish Institute in Estonia and the digital media incubator DIGIX.
Festival Passes are available from this morning via the Piletilevi ticket platform. The first 200 passes can be snapped up for only 29 euros.
The uniqueness of the city of Narva lies in its unusual location, 210 kilometres from Estonia’s capital Tallinn and 130 kilometres from St. Petersburg.
Venues to look out for will be the Kreenholm Manufacturing Company and the ‘cultural hacktivists’ headquarters Art Club Ro-Ro. The multiple stages of the main venue will be set in the grand industrial architecture complex of Kreenholm island, that was once home to the world’s largest cotton spinning mill. Yeah.
Echo and the Bunnymen are currently touring in anticipation of their new album The Stars, the Oceans & the Moon. The album, to be released shortly after the festival in October, includes a couple of new compositions and gives a new twist with “strings and things attached” to classic tracks from ‘Bring on the Dancing Horses’ to ‘The Killing Moon’—“the greatest song of all time,” according to ever-modest frontman Ian McCulloch.
Actress (real name Darren J. Cunningham), the creator of cerebral abstract techno and “R&B concrète”, will fill the industrial colossus of a festival venue with chopped sample loops into rumbling tracks soaked in static. After his signature sound reached its perfection last year with ‘a chrome aspect journey into a parallel world‘ LP, he has released a collaboration album with the London Contemporary Orchestra (LCO) on Ninja Tune entitled ‘LAGEOS’.
Also on the lineup: Swedish singer-songwriter Jenny Wilson, who has collaborated with the likes of The Knife and Robyn, will perform songs from her latest unflinchingly honest full-length “Exorcism.”
St Petersburg’s Shortparis will offer the audience a thrilling ride on the dark side with their spastic dance grooves and falsetto chanson whilst Moscow’s RSAC (Red Samara Automobile Club) will play their irresistible hoodlum-hymns. With reverb pedals plugged in and amps turned all the way up, the Finnish shoegazers Joensuu 1685 are readying for their global comeback; also from Finland comes the grime and dubstep mixing hip-hop star View.
Estonia’s own music scene will be represented by around a dozen cutting-edge acts. The ‘true child of post-genre’ Mart Avi will present his high-end concepts of 21st Century pop from the upcoming solo album “OtherWorld.” The Lovecraftian milieu will provide a perfect setting for the darkly atmospheric hip-hop shamanism of 12EEK Monkey. The dance version of Estonian indie founders Röövel Ööbik, Una Bomba 50+, will vent their hooligan house steam, whilst the noise-rock stalwarts Zahir guarantee to fly everyone to the other side of rock ’n’ roll.
Sõpruse Puiestee (aka “Friendship Boulevard”) will deliver their trademark melancholy vintage melodies, whilst art-punk provocateur Indrek Spungin will throw a weirdly wonderful performance of “behavioural schoolbook mistakes, poetry and music.”
Also look out for art activities at the Narva Art Residency, heated public talks under the umbrella of the Narva’s BAZAR opinion festival, picnics and home concerts by local untapped talent.
Never-before-seen trilingual stand-up performance will take place in cooperation with Comedy Estonia, and the European Commission Representation in Estonia will arrange fun and enlightening Speak Dating sessions. Joining forces with Narva’s own Lamprey Festival, Station Narva will bring Nordic street food to Narva River Promenade.
At the promenade, Tarmo Tammiste, Mayor of Narva City, will receive the annual title of the autumn cultural capital of Estonia at midday, followed by a public get-together meal at the long table with a backdrop of the picturesque River Narva and the silhouette of the Ivangorod Fortress over the borderline.
Station Narva’s info desk along with DIGIX Games Café will be open in the main atrium of Narva College of the University of Tartu from 20th to 23rd September.
The full programme of Station Narva 2018 and new performers will be announced during July and August. Grab tickets now!
