The Model & Binder are delighted to announce the fifth edition of Spilt Milk Festival. This year sees the biggest programme to date with over 20 scheduled performances and events encompassing experimental, electronic and folk artists including Moundabout, Elaine Howley, Natalia Beylis, Cáit, Rising Damp along with art installations, screenings and workshops within the unique settings of The Model, Sligo on 17, 18 and 19 November.
The opening night of Spilt Milk kicks off with a blistering blend of punk, hardcore and experimental music. The line-up features festival debuts for new Dublin upstarts Big Tears, Sligo four-piece Some Remain and Galway-formed Fiend. No stranger to Spilt Milk, Natalia Beylis performed in 2019 with BB84 and provided an audio piece for our 2021 Idir walking trail. She returns to play solo in 2023, her live performances are known for seemingly incongruous sounds layered atop of each other to spawn strange juxtapositions and garbled parallels by exploring the sonic potentials of found objects, cassette tapes and field recordings. Rising Damp return to Spilt Milk as three-piece band, their sound fuses experimental music, EBM and post punk. Known for their unconventional performances, their songwriting delves into subjects as diverse as brutalist architecture, cannibalism, and thought-provoking themes of corporate metaphor and innovation.
Saturday sees a night of eclectism and wild tonal shifts over two-stages. We are delighted to bring Moundabout, the collaborative project of Paddy Shine (Gnod) and Phil ‘Langero’ Masterson (Los Langeros, Bisect, Damp Howl) to Sligo. Their sound is like ethereal megalithic folk desert mantras if such a thing existed. Arklow’s NIMF unearths inner meaning in her music, portraying the uncanny through ætherphone, retrogressive sample use, and electroacoustic soundscapes. Mohammad Syfkhan is a singer and bouzouki player originally from Syria, now based in Carrick on Shannon, Co Leitrim. He blends songs and music from various traditions from the Middle East and North Africa to create his own blend of ecstatic party music.
Elsewhere, expect no-wave weirdness from Cork’s Crying Loser, alien techno folk tunes from Baby Nits while Nigerian-Irish atmosphere artist E The Artist’s performances are a cacophony of multicultural harmony and dissonance. The night will culminate with a high energy DJ set from Cáit; highly regarded for their fun atmosphere, as well as for their sensitivity and attunement to dancers, Cáit’s selections are sentimental, while always forward thinking; blurring the lines between past and present in exciting ways.
A fresh instalment of Junior Jam returns for Spilt Milk 2023, our dedicated event which introduces experimental music to young audiences. This outing sees a special performance from The Clumsy Giantess, the collaborative persona of interdisciplinary artist Tara Baoth whose work encompasses sound, performance, textiles, drawing, and video. Mooney’s work moves around sound, spoken-song, and spindly line drawings which she often makes while writing new material.
For this year’s event, we invite young explorers into their own fun, sensory space starting with a den-making session and then relax inside their own creations to a performance from The Clumsy Giantess.
The final performance of Spilt Milk offers an opportunity to unwind on a dreamy Sunday afternoon with three artists all making their festival debuts. Elaine Howley (The Altered Hours, Crevice, Howlbux) creates collages of analogue processes and experimental soundscapes which create a rich and immersive experience. White Sage is the solo experimental project of Andy Walsh (little gem records, little gem band, GODHATESDISCO, I HeartThe Monster Hero) which he describes as spacewave for astral projecting yourself to the surface of other realms, within and without. Dream Alfalfa are a band from Sligo formed in 2022 by Milo Cummins and Hugh McSweeney. Their sound, influenced by funk, post-punk, jazz and folk, often incorporates catchy synthesizer lines, sliding fretless bass and soul-inspired piano.
A weekend pass for all live performances (except Junior Jam gig and workshops) is €35 – buy now.
Individual tickets are also available:
Friday – €15
Saturday – €25
Sunday – €10
Junior Jam (1 adult, 2 children) – €10
Spilt Milk 2023 is curated by Binder, formerly Art for Blind and Commissioned by The Model, with support from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Failte Ireland, Sligo County Council and IMRO.
