When: 7.30pm on Friday 28 March 2025
Where: Gullivers, 109 Oldham Street, Manchester, M4 1LW

We’re delighted to be welcoming Chris Brain back – this time, to Gullivers!

Yorkshire’s Chris Brain has carved his place firmly into the contemporary folk scene following his highly-regarded first two albums, Bound to Rise (2022) and Steady Away (2023).

Garnering acclaim from the likes of Cerys Matthews (BBC 6 Music) and Mark Radcliffe (BBC Radio 2), he has since shared the stage with iconic acts like Robert Plant, Jacqui McShee and Martin Simpson.

With the release of his third much-anticipated album, New Light, in Spring 2025, he will be embarking on a UK/Ireland solo tour. New Light brings a refreshingly contemporary sound as Chris contemplates transformation, nostalgia and tenderness in times of vulnerability – all woven around his familiar gestures towards the natural world.

From sublimely deployed strings and dappling piano to rhythmic percussion, the album’s arrangements are perfectly wrapped around Brain’s honeyed vocals, anchoring fingerpicked guitar and persuasive melodies.

Recorded in various locations, from his allotment shed to The Nave Studios, New Light embodies the expanded parameters that his sound has reached. Both intimate and expansive, New Light expresses a surety of Chris Brain’s song-writing abilities with the album’s imagery and melodies dwelling long after the music ends.

‘There are shades of the master Ralph Mctell here and I can think of no greater compliment than that. Love it!’ – Mark Radcliffe, BBC Radio 2 Folk Show

Local support comes from Fionnuala Bradbury. Fionnuala Bradbury is a singer-songwriter from Manchester. Her sound is inspired by the local folk scene she grew up in, and the jazz music she found a love for later on. Having been studying archaeology for the past few years, she has returned to Manchester to get re-involved in the music scene.

Her part-Irish heritage meant she plays the fiddle, and had the pleasure of learning traditional folk songs from Ríoghnach Connolly. Her recordings of traditional Irish folk songs, made with the help of Mike McGoldrick, have been played on BBC Radio Ulster and BBC Radio 2’s Folk Show.

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