Louis O'Hara and His Burley Chassis

Serafima & The Shakedowns at Gullivers

Louis O’Hara is a singer-songwriter from West Wales, whose songs combine intimate folk songwriting with richly atmospheric arrangements. Influenced by Bill Callahan and Lou Reed, his music is rooted in poetic lyricism, memory and a strong sense of place. His debut album, A Peaceful Kind of Fun, was released by Libertino Records in 2025, with Clash calling it “quietly magical”, Hard of Hearing praising it as an “outstanding debut album”, and The Guardian describing his music as “unusually touching and truly lovely”. Since then, O’Hara has completed three UK headline tours and established himself as one of Wales’most compelling emerging voices. A darker, more cinematic second album is due in early 2027.

Serafima and The Shakedowns finds influence in the likes of Johnny and June Carter Cash, Kimya Dawson, Lily Allen, Dan Reeder, and Cake – somewhere in there among the honest and the groovy. Her lyrics hit you in the heart and stick in your head – wry, time-twisting verses as deceptively complex as her protagonists and their experiences. She won’t lie to you, but she just might tell you a story… so keep up, folks, and let’s ride along.

Gem Stark’s moth-bitten folk tendencies are recognisable to audiences that have cried to the hum of a PAT-failed lamp in a second hand bookshop anywhere within the speculative radius of the Peak District. You can hear the influence of Aldous Harding, Dave Van Ronk, Joanna Newsom, and Elliott Smith.

BETS is a Manchester-based singer-songwriter.