The Roving Chess Club || Album release
Singer-songwriter
Szervezés:
The Roving Chess Club || Album release
This programme is held in Hungarian.
A single evening, two concerts in the spirit of indie-folk with two talented formations, one of which will also present a new album. The Roving Chess Club, launched in 2023, and Biankahaidu, started in 2024, conjure up a delicate, intimate atmosphere – on Valentine’s Day as well, though not exactly on that occasion.
Budapest-based Roving Chess Club, originally from Szolnok, delivers catchy, deep moods in the spirit of indie-folk and Americana, bringing closer together acoustic and electric instruments as well as more unusual ones (trumpet, cello). They blend the harmony-rich world of 1960s Anglo-Saxon folk-rock with British sophisti-pop, and Americana with the underground rock style of the 1970s. At the start they were inspired by acts such as Platon Karataev, Fleet Foxes, or Black Country, New Road. Their emotionally powerful lyrics and instrumentation also recall the indie-folk of the 2010s, evoking artists like Big Thief, Mumford & Sons, or The Avett Brothers. Their first releases came out in 2023, followed by many more songs, several talent-show wins (Fülesbagoly, Sounds of Szeged, and the Insert talent competition) and concerts. By now they have reached their first full-length album, whose launch show they are holding at the House of Music, and which they recommend in their own words as follows: “Valentine’s Day is the holiday of greeting card manufacturers, designed to make us feel awful. And we decided it’s the perfect day to finally present our long-nurtured debut album. On February 14 at the House of Hungarian Music we will celebrate together all the bittersweet feelings, the broken connections, and every bit of ‘anti-romance’ that makes people write songs. So come, all you broken ones — this is for you (too). There will be surprise guests, gifts, and for the first time we’ll perform live the entire album, which is coming out in early February.”
The evening will be opened by songwriter-performer Bianka Hajdu, who debuted in 2024, and her self-titled band, Biankahaidu. Their songs set out from the realms of folk and country, but also bear the influences of indie-folk and pop music. Serious themes, in songs that feel mysterious, captivating, yet light.
Rock Troubadours (US, 70s): CSNY, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Van Morrison, Roy Harper
