Foggy Notions proudly presents
SPAFFORD CAMPBELL
plus support
Whelan’s Upstairs • Wed 13th May 2026
Spafford Campbell are twenty-something mould-breakers, fiddle player Owen Spafford and guitarist Louis Campbell. The two first met as teenagers playing traditional music. The connection, they say, was immediate. The duo Spafford Campbell began playing live in 2018, prompting double takes with their delicacy, dynamism and seemingly telepathic exchanges, with the startling intimacy of musical conversations nurtured in improv-led writing sessions.
Their latest album Tomorrow Held is a visionary body of eight largely instrumental tracks that hold space, resolve into mystery, that fold in elements of jazz, post-rock and chamber classical music while raiding the folk music toolbox. Call it what you want: post-folk. Trad-noir. Folk nihilism. Then know that Spafford Campbell are blazing a trail that erases genre—and finds gold in the embers. While redolent of Talk Talk’s moody, experimental 1988 opus Spirit of Eden, and riven with a Bon Iver-ish sense of transcendence, Tomorrow Held is a work of bold singularity. A whole greater than the sum of its parts—parts that include effects pedals, ambient cassette loops, flashes of electric guitar, electronic processing on fiddle and impressionistic accompaniment.
“Mingling traditional tunes with influences from minimalism, post-rock and jazz, they shift moods exquisitely.” The Guardian – 10 best folk albums of 2025
“This is a fusing of the traditional and the futuristic that is quietly groundbreaking, and beguiling with it.” ★★★★ The Times — albums of the year so far 2025
“An intense, almost subliminal drama you want to turn up to 11.” ★★★★★ The Arts Desk — Album of the Year 2025
“England’s finest and most innovative instrumental duo.” ★★★★★ Songlines — Top of the World
“Their ever-shifting time-lapse textures evoke a strangely unsettling beauty.” MOJO
NPR Music — Best albums of the Week
Folk Album of the Year Award 2025 Nominee
CONNECT
Website | Instagram | Linktree
TICKETS
€23 available online from Whelan’s – 50c per ticket service charge applies.
Strictly over 18′s, I.D. may be required
AFTER THE GIG
Whelan’s Silent Disco from 10:30pm – 2 DJs, just pick the one you like best (€5 cover charge), plus Late Bar