Future Islands, Bakar, Puma Blue, Debby Friday, blackwinterwells and Jasper Tygner
are the first additions to the lineup of next year’s off festival,
which returns with new
music and fresh sounds on August 2–4, 2024.
Each year, OFF Festival Creative Director Artur Rojek tracks down original and
unconventional artists who can take OFF audiences on journeys into musical realms that are
equal parts captivating and unknown.
Read on for a taste of our upcoming lineup:
Future Islands
This Baltimore-based quartet might be hard to pin down, but there’s no way to reject the
warm embrace of their synth-pop sound, one that throbs just beneath the surface with an
angst compounded by the songs’ powerful lyrics. The effect is even stronger at live shows,
which are unforgettable experiences thanks in no small part to the charismatic frontman, Sam
Herring. Future Islands are coming to Katowice with new material that comes out in January
on their seventh LP, People Who Aren’t There Anymore — their best effort to date, judging by
the first promotional single.
Bakar
Born to a Tanzanian mother and Yemeni father, Bakar himself hails from Camden. He takes
the urban sound of multicultural London and blends it with indie-rock choruses that are just
catchy enough to count as pop. In 2022 Bakar dropped his debut album Nobody’s Home to
rave reviews, with critics hailing him as one of the most promising young acts in the U.K. He
followed up with a 2023 LP titled Halo. Asked about plans for the future, Bakar says: “I just
want to be big.” With talent like his, he’s sure to make his dreams come true.
Puma Blue
Working as solo artist under the moniker Puma Blue, the London-based songwriter and
producer Jacob Allen makes an intimate sort of music that combines the breathy, hypnotic
theatrics of trip-hop with the emotional power of Jeff Buckley and the breeziness of old jazz
ballads. On his second album, titled Holy Waters, Allen deals mainly with death, but the
material is so compelling that it’s sure to enjoy a long life.
Debby Friday
Good Luck is the title of Debby Friday’s debut LP, but there’s nothing random about this
Canadian artist’s success, which culminated in her winning the 2023 Polaris Music Prize, her
country’s top music award. Chalk it up to talent, hard work, and an original vision: bold but
accessible electronic music. Critics have described her as “Sevdaliza meets Death Grips” and
drawn comparisons — all of them well deserved — with Fatima al Qadiri and M.I.A.
blackwinterwells
Digicore emo-ballads about life and everything else, brought to you by the Canadian singer
and producer Madeline Winter, a.k.a. blackwinterwells, head of the collective known as Helix
Tears. “There is beauty in entropy and destruction, as evidenced by these glittering shards of
broken crystal presented here,” one reviewer writes, and that pretty much describes Winter’s
sound.
Jasper Tygner
The title of Tygner’s latest EP, Off Season, by no means implies that his sound has gone out
of fashion: good music, after all, is never passé. The London-based producer and composer
appeared on critics’ watchlists in early 2023 and has since proved his mettle, serving up an
original, melancholy take on jungle, U.K. garage, and dubstep.
