Closer To Home’s Summer Party!

Six of our best local acts took to the stage at The Purple Turtle for an evening of great live music.

Tayo Sound’s headline set was his first ever in Reading, despite starting his musical career busking in town, and later going all the way to playing Reading Festival. He brought all of his hits back home - including Someone New, Cold Feet, and his track with Rudimental, Hide and Seek.

Rose Rey is back, with some incredible new music drawing on a range of influences from Fleetwood Mac to David Bowie incorporating diverse 80s pop and 70s disco into her modern indie rock tunes. Blessed with an incredible voice, Rose has racked up millions of streams on Spotify and Apple Music, plays on BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 6 Music, and performances at Reading and Leeds, Lollapalooza, and Mad Cool festival, with her previous project Valeras. She started this new project where it all began, at The Purple Turtle - in Reading.

Ace Clvrk, fresh from reaching the semi-finals of Britain’s Got Talent, returned to Reading, the place he grew up. With vocals that have been compared to the likes of Giveon, Kwabs, Sampha and even John Legend, the future looks bright for Ace. He was also recently inducted into the MOBO Unsung Class Of 2023, an annual competition celebrating the finest up and coming black musicians, with previous winners including Tiana Major 9 and Tion Wayne.

MUNBOI is an alternative artist, producer and audio engineer from Bracknell, who is pivotal to the local music scene. He started DJing garage at 12 and freestyling on YouTube beats at 15 with his mates - until one day when at 17 they ran out of YouTube beats, and he turned his hand to production! With over 3 million streams and support from Radio 1, MUNBOI is an artist to keep a close eye on in 2024.

Henjila has always been an artist of opposites. Her earlier work was praised as "adorably sincere" by Clash, and Checkout Mag complimented her "audible softness" but also found her "steely in her stance". In her initial arrival on the scene, she gained notoriety for combining emotionally mature lyrics with the prettiest melodies. This duality of the delicate and the direct is still true of Henjila to this day. Her voice: serene, floaty - but also pitch perfect, and precise. She returned to The Purple Turtle for a set of new and upcoming tracks.

Patchy Blonde is a musician and songwriter from Wokingham, with a focus primarily on anti-folk and grunge sounds - inspired by the likes of Andy Shauf, PJ Harvey, and Jeff Buckley. Her cryptic lyricism and open-chord guitar make for an uncertain but emotional listen.