If you want to attend both shows please buy the "Ticket for Both Shows" option in this listing. General release tickets bought here valid for BGM and FW 2pm show only.

Darren Hayman returns to the Cube with not one but two shows of only Hefner material. Breaking God's Heart and Fidelity Wars in the 2pm matinee showing and We Love the City and Dead Media at 6pm. Don't miss out!

Darren Hayman is a thoughtful, concise and detailed songwriter. He eschews the big, the bright and the loud for the small, twisted and lost. For 15 years, and over 14 albums, Hayman has taken a singular and erratic route through England’s tired and heartbroken underbelly.

Hayman was influenced by punk through his art college years, but throughout the ’90s he was inspired by American lo-fi indie-rock. A chance meeting with John Peel favourites New Bad Things and shows with them in London and Portland USA taught Darren the DIY ethic and soon he was self-releasing records by his first band, Hefner.

Hefner’s first records attracted the attention of cult indie label Too Pure and the broadcasting legend John Peel. The band’s first album, Breaking God’s Heart (1998), mixed raw, sexual words with religious imagery and earned the band a loyal, intelligent following in the UK, Europe and the USA.

The second album, The Fidelity Wars (1999), shifted the songwriting focus to the personal and remains a fan favourite. By the third album, Hayman had started to develop a sharp, incisive voice. The song narratives now took place in the toilets and kitchens of everyday British homes. Hayman sang about the thread on skirt hems and the hairline cracks in the china as well as the tears on cheeks. Soul influenced and layered with warm brass, We Love the City (2002)became the critical and commercial highlight of Hefner’s short, intense career.

Hefner’s valedictory album, Dead Media (2001), presented an erratic creative left turn. Largely leaving their guitars in their cases, the band made a bizarre, stuttering bleeping confection on ancient analogue synths, confusing critics and halving their audience.

A.L. LACEY

Sussex born and bred, Alice is a classically trained pianist, now based in Bristol. Having played keys for various indie/folk/metal/ambient bands across the years, Alice is now recording her first full length album (with Jim Barr at J&J Studios at the production helm) with a release date set for next year.

With piano and strong melodies front and centre in the mix, Alice’s music alternates between sparse, dark songs that ruminate on the passing of time and more kinetic, upbeat pieces charting the journey towards total autonomy.

The result is strikingly personal and haunting.

For fans of Julia Holter, Grouper, Poppy Ackroyd, Agnes Obel.