Anna Calvi

Anna Calvi received her first letters of recommendation from notorious fans such as Nick Cave and Brian Eno (“the biggest thing since Patti Smith”, he said). The Londoner’s background is in classical music, with such heroes as Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. When she discovered Jimi Hendrix and Django Reinhardt, she started to try to express her feelings through the guitar. She recorded her eponymous debut in 2011 with Rob Ellis, who has helped colour the sound of PJ Harvey for years. It also brought her to Werchter. Things went a bit quiet after that. Calvi kept going but was barely heard again outside the United Kingdom. Her compositions for the Netflix hit Peaky Blinders offered some consolation. Last year, she showed how much she had progressed at Hear Hear in Hasselt. “One part guitar goddess, one part vocal fury”, wrote Humo.