Things We Learnt at HowTheLightGetsIn

As part of the panel talk After Happily Ever After, speakers Esther Freud, Sophie Fiennes, and Sir David Hare debated the importance of endings in works of fiction and how that can apply to our understanding of life. After a day of heavy discussion, it was with a refreshing lightness that Hare, the celebrated English playwright, screenwriter and film director, took long-form television to pieces. He critiqued the likes of The Crown for being a dull soap opera about the Royals, while ripping into Ozark for being too basic, with each series a regurgitation of the last. He continued his long standing adoration for Mad Men, while praising The Sopranos as one of the greatest examples of writing in modern television. While his veer into popular culture felt a little at odds with the sentiment provided by the rest of the panel, Sophie Fiennes even wondered aloud how he had so much time to watch telly, it felt like someone speaking from the heart rather than the head.

Born in Paris and based in London, Léa Sen has been embracing the capital’s music scene since her move here three years ago. Having collaborated with the likes of Joy Orbison and behind the scenes with Wu-Lu, she even contributed a track to the recent Bowie homage Modern Love. Playing stripped back at HowTheLightGetsIn on the small bookshop-cum-cafe stage, she’s confident and charismatic. Kicking off with recent singles including the acclaimed “I Feel Like I’m Blue”, she bounced expansive samples through the stage’s small PA, her vocals ethereal and mesmerising. Sen’s stage presence is commanding. Gripping a recently recovered electric guitar which had been lost by an international airline, her long silver and blue hair looks futuristic against the tent’s homely aesthetic. Recently signed to the Partisan label, she offered up two new tracks of inventive electronica, turning down her guitar and bolstering her luscious vocals. Both were full of grace, power and further cemented Sen as a name to pay attention to.

Headlining the festival on Sunday night and closing out the party was Welsh-Cornish singer and seasoned performer Gwenno. Playing with her band after the talks wrapped up, she delivered a wistful, down-to-earth, joyful closing set full of rich psych-pop, charismatic banter, and enough energy to get the crowd moving. Playing songs from the Mercury-nominated Tresor, she owned the Hat venue with a warm and inclusive stage presence. In-between songs she kindly poked fun at the festival’s premise, raised applause for the stage techs, and even captivated the crowd with a story about her mum and son nearly getting arrested while protesting against the monarchy in Cardiff. Wrapping up her set with “Eus Keus?” from her 2018 record Le Kov, she worked to help the audience learn her chorus, a Cornish ode to man’s greatest achievement - cheese. As the song’s lyrics point out, if there’s no cheese then you can bring anything, so it’s “vegan-friendly,” laughed Gwenno. It was the perfect tongue-in-cheek end to the festival, and with a pizza stand positioned by the exit, a perfect suggestion for dinner too.