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Hard Light are proud to present another night of dark electronica for September 2025!Featuring our headline act:
DEERFACE (10:10pm)
DEERFACE is the musical project of Sophie James, an Australian-born, UK-based multimedia artist.
Now based in Sheffield, she draws on the wild biodiversity of New South Wales, the rugged landscape of the Peak District, and the stark beauty of dystopian sci-fi and brutalist architecture.
Her sound merges electronic and organic textures into brooding, immersive sonic landscapes where nature, industry and the metaphysical collide.
New release, ‘Closer’ out now!
‘Former’: A pulsing, throbbing Depeche Mode influenced bassline underpins unnerving, sinister background effects and epic, crashing drums. Eerie synth lines meander their malevolent way in and out of this darkly delicious dollop of electronica, weaving a tapestry of musical beauty.
DEERFACE’s haunting ethereal vocals add a dream-like quality to the music, infusing the song with an other-worldly atmosphere that seizes your attention and draws you into the soundscape.
‘Quarantine’: Already a winner for having the same name as a classic episode of hit sci-fi comedy, ‘Red Dwarf’ (although Mr Flibble presumably doesn’t make an appearance here!), ‘Quarantine’ brings back maudlin yet welcome memories of Dido with its yearning, sorrowful vocals and minor key magnificence.
The spirit of late 1990s Garbage and David Arnold collaborations is also welcomed into the song’s arrangement, with the verse’s stripped back yet still seething drums and throbbing bass flowing effortlessly into a swelling chorus of sublime synth strings, creating the atmosphere of a potential soundtrack for a certain British secret agent’s spy shenanigans.
‘Quarantine’: the theme song for a Pierce Brosnan Bond film that never was. (And yes, you’ll want to listen to it a lot more than 007 times…) (A short Dark Stranger)
Website: https://www.deerface.world
Bandcamp: https://deerface.bandcamp.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_deerface
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deerfaceworld
With superlative support from:
Tr4nsients (9:20pm)
tr4nsients is the latest project from Alex C, co-host of Ambient Leeds. Originally conceived eight years ago under a different name, it began as an experiment in exploring the human condition. In its current form, tr4nsients dives deeper into the shifting maelstrom of fleeting details, emotions, and events that make up each passing moment.
tr4nsients invites listeners to sink into moments both intimate and unsettling — a soundtrack to the subconscious drift of modern life.
“tr4nsients takes a post-‘Boards of Canada’, cinematic electro with dark gothy tinges and mixes them with vintage video footage to evoke a very zeitgeisty dystopian landscape of sound at mostly downtempo paces.” (Measured Lag.)
IG: @tr4nsients
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tr4nsients
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tr4nsients
Bandcamp: https://tr4nsients.bandcamp.com/
Silk Circus (8:40pm)
Say hello to Silk Circus! Formed of Steve’s vibrant and energetic sounds and Holly’s alternately playful and introspective lyrics, Silk Circus are bringing their sassy, sultry, suggestive synth pop to Yorkshire and beyond!
Marvel at both their own uniquely crafted electro gems and fresh takes on Eighties hits. And also, find out what ‘that peach’ is really a metaphor for…
“Debut offering, ‘Eat The Peach’ is a saucily suggestive slice of synth splendour, fusing 1970s disco with Erasure-esque meandering synth lines. Awash with ingeniously placed (sampled?) guitar and saxophone, it’s enough to make you want to immediately nip out to your local greengrocer. (Or maybe I’ve just misunderstood exactly what peach Silk Circus are referring to…)
‘Red Flags’ - Ethereal, yearning vocals, electric guitar samples, tribal drums and classic Roland D-50 style pads invoking the spirit of the late 1980s all add up to a passionate pop banger. One that will take up residence on your mental jukebox for some time.” (A short Dark Stranger.)
IG: @silkcircussynth
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61567441946477
With your host (and opening entertainer for the evening’s electronic excellence, performing his recently released 'Pale Blue Dot E.P.' in its entirety...)
A short Dark Stranger (8.00pm)
The dapper doyen of darkly dour yet determinedly defiant disco.
Synths, silver, sarcasm, sorrow, superbly stylish stage shenanigans, showmanship & soul.
"It’s the kind of opinion splitting madness that could only have come from the ever-fertile music scene in LS6. The music coming across like an indie-pop Pet Shop Boys while the lyrics have a Jarvis-esque sense of wit and absurdity.”
(Andy Brown, Louder Than War magazine.)
"A short Dark Stranger - if you went to Butlins in Twin Peaks…" (Still Forever)
IG: @ashortds
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ashortdarkstranger
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AShortDarkStranger
Bandcamp: https://ashortdarkstranger.bandcamp.com/
Doors 7.30pm. First performer (A short Dark Stranger) on at 8.00pm.
£6 advance, £10 OTD (cash preferred OTD. PayPal accepted if not. There is a cash machine located outside the Co-op on Burley Road, a short walk from The Fox & Newt, if you like to keep it old school…)
Tickets available via Ticketsource at:
https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/alterviva-promotions
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
The Fox & Newt, The Fox & Newt, 9 Burley Street, Leeds, LS3 1LD, United Kingdom
Tickets
