Meath festival SoFFT Nights returns in June with Tolü Makay, Lisa O'Neill, Elaine Mai, Moxie, Pastiche, Daragh Lynch

SoFFT Nights will welcome attendees back to Meath's Dunderry Park in June, with a line-up that includes Tolü Makay, Lisa O'Neill, Elaine Mai, Sinéad White, MayKay, Moxie, Pastiche, Kíla, LANKUM's Daragh Lynch and more.

Creating a unique experience with nature, SoFFT Productions brings a careful selection of the best musical talent. The festival aims to bring brand new experiences to their wellbeing activities, including astronomy talks, bat walks, music for young children, Shamanic journeying, reggae yoga, sound baths, active imagination workshops and site-specific theatre to "reconnect with nature, nurture and nonsense".

On Saturday night, June 4th, SoFFT Nights bring you a brilliant blend of lo-fi R&B, dance, and pop music with headliner Tolü Makay performing as one of Ireland’s creative voices. Tolü is no stranger to TV with an array of appearances and performances on Other Voices, The Late Late Show, The Tommy Tiernan Show, Fanning At Whelan's, The Heart Of Saturday Night as well as a headline show at Vicar Street.

Makay blends R&B traits with jazz balladry and electronic production to create an uplifting form of pop music that knows no boundaries. With Irish Tatler Woman of The Year and Best Female Artists at Black & Irish Artist of the Year topping off a substantially meaningful twelve months for Tolü Makay, the future looks golden as she prepares to release her debut album in 2022.

Continuing the party on Saturday, June 4th, Elaine Mai will take the stage with May Kay and Sinead White. Elaine’s marquee single 'No Forever (feat. MayKay)’ garnered widespread acclaim and achieved over 11 million impressions across Irish radio. It hit No.2 in the Irish Radio Breakers chart and peaked at No.6 in the Viral 50 Ireland Spotify chart, later gaining her an RTÉ Prize ‘Song of the Year’ nomination in 2021.

Recently crowned one of Hot Press' Hot For 2022 Irish Acts, Dublin born and raised artist Pastiche will bring you a fresh delivery of pop music, with her infectious and unapologetically herself creative sound.

On Sunday, June 5th, SoFFT Nights will offer a more traditional, folk feel to its music lineup with Lisa O’ Neill performing. Lisa’s Choice Music Prize-nominated release on Rough Trade imprint River Lea, Heard A Long Gone Song has garnered huge acclaim both at home and abroad.

Joining Lisa will be one of Ireland’s favourite folk music/ world music groups, Kíla. The band had a 20-date post-lockdown tour all over Éire between August and November last year. The band won the IFTA for Best Original Score for Tom Ó Súileabháin’s feature Arracht, which was Ireland’s entry to the Oscars in the foreign-language film category.

Alternative folk outfit Moxie will be performing on Sunday, June 5th. They released their second album in September 2021, The Dawn of Motion - described as a timeless body of work. Moxie was nominated for the 2021 RTÉ Folk Awards as Best Folk Group amongst great artists such as Villagers, Ye Vagabonds, The Whileaways. Read our September 2021 interview with the crew here.

A highlight to the festival will be on Sunday, June 5th: singer Séan Fitzgerald and Lankum’s Daragh Lynch. Séan is best known for his work with The Deadlians, his tender folk music with Ruskavellas, and his renowned walking tours of Dublin, his work is singular, entirely unique, and sometimes visionary.

Daragh Lynch is known for being one-quarter of Dublin group Lankum. He's been involved in a number of musical, artistic, and political projects in Dublin since the early 2000s. The popularity of Lankum took all four members by surprise, and it gave them a chance to explore their wide-ranging musical tastes - Krautrock, ambient electronic, psychedelic rock, black metal, punk - within the framework of traditional folk music.

The first edition of SoFFT Nights festival impressively occurred in the middle of Covid: October 2020.

“Over the course of 2021, we put on another ten festivals in very difficult positions," Festival Director, Natasha Duffy said today. "Sometimes it felt like Forrest Gump and Captain Dan hanging on for dear life in the storm but we got through it! This year our motto is nature, nurture, and nonsense and we really mean that! One of the most exciting elements for me is the new sensory space for people with neurodiversity that might want to take a break from the busyness of the festival and have a super chill break out space, this goes for kids of all ages as well!'”

As well as the incredible artist lineup, SoFFT Nights bring new activities and workshops for all the family to enjoy throughout the weekend.

This year, the festival will offer a shuttle bus service from Dublin to the festival with just a 50-minute journey. Tickets are available to purchase for Saturday and Sunday.

Early bird tickets for SoFFT Nights are available at €35 plus booking fee per day until 21st March Full price €45 plus booking fee per day.

Grab your weekend tickets here, plus Saturday and Sunday.

Revisit Hot Press' take on SoFFT Nights July 2021 festival here.