GREEN MAN FESTIVAL

VENUE GLANUSK PARK ESTATE, CRICKHOWELL DATE 16-19/08/18

While the Green Man festival is one of those exceptional gatherings where the location is every bit as crucial a part of the line-up as the acts playing, its notorious microclimate also has considerable influence on how enjoyable the event is. And for only the second time this decade, this magical gathering in the southernmost tip of the Brecon Beacons is spared rain and is bathed in sunshine throughout the weekend.

Working in tandem with the stunning environs is an approach to musical curating that simply enhances the experience – not least because this is music that frequently opens and cleanses the third eye, and it has an occasional bucolic bent.

Since breaking through with

2014’s The Silver Globe album and its 2017 follow-up Modern kosmology,

Jane Weaver has moved up from the modest setting of the Walled Garden to the more prestigious Far out stage. Her krautrock-tinged material encapsulates the loveliness of the event, most notably on the undulating The Architect and the pulses of i need A Connection.

Cate Le Bon elicits similar feelings on the Mountain Stage, especially with the quirky i Can’t Help You and a duet with John Grant on i Think i knew.

Back at the Far out stage, Chilean psych trio Föllakzoid make a total hash of their set when guitarist Domingo García-Huidobro throws a hissy fit, along with his guitar and amps, and then storms off mid-set. There are no such problems for The KVB, though, whose throbs and electro-psychedelia go from strength to strength.

The first psychedelic generation is gloriously evoked by The Brian Jonestown Massacre’s mesmeric closing headline set at the Far out stage. Likewise The Black Angels, and their readings from 2017’s Death Song hit home the hardest.

Sadly, Public Service Broadcasting and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard share the ability to milk slight ideas dry. in the case of the former, it’s peppering ersatz krautrock with BBC samples, while the latter dispense with anything resembling melody to shadow simple riffs and then syllabically sing over them with nursery rhyme lyrics, all while jamming interminably.

But if one band define the spirit of Green Man then it’s Snapped Ankles. Having emerged from London’s warehouse scene, the group’s woodland and hirsute aesthetic, coupled with their ability to breathe new life into familiar kosmische styling, transforms the Walled Garden into a post-midnight rave up. There’s a reassurance to be had as the gathered partygoers lose their minds to the climactic Jonny Guitar Calling Gosta Berlin.

Watching it all unfold in these enchanting surroundings reinforces just how special this festival is.