Stu Larsen

Stu Larsen plays Clwb Ifor Bach on Thursday 5 November, with the night starting at 7:00 PM. He's an indie-folk artist from Bowenville, Australia, known for introspective songwriting that draws on his travels. The set is built around his record Solitude, a collection of twelve songs written over twelve months, each one composed while he was staying in a different location around the world. He worked with little more than a guitar, a few cameras, and simple recording equipment, so the songs come from a very stripped-back place.

Larsen describes solitude not as escaping life, but as slowing down enough to notice it, and that's the thread that runs through the whole project. The songs are paired with slow-living imagery and stories from his time on the road, and the live show keeps that focus on authentic storytelling. If you're into folk that feels more like a conversation than a performance, this is exactly that kind of night.

It's a single-name bill, so it's just him on stage. The music sits in that quiet, observational corner of indie-folk, where the lyrics take centre stage and the arrangements stay out of the way. If you've never heard him before, Solitude is a good place to start, as it gives you a sense of the travel and the slow pace that shape his writing.

The gig is at Clwb Ifor Bach, 11 Womanby Street, Cardiff, CF10 1BR, on Thursday 5 November, starting at 7:00 PM.