Hidden Door is almost upon us. From Wednesday 31 May until Sunday 4 June the festival will breathe new life into the Scottish Widows building on Dalkeith Road, Edinburgh, with a full programme of music, visual art, spoken word and a space which has been transformed from office block to reenergised art hub. 

We’ve spilled plenty of ink over Hidden Door in our current issue, laying out our highlight for each day of the festival. Take a look at our day-by-day breakdown on some of the major happenings at Hidden Door and get planning your visit. 

^{Porridge/Picture: Matilda Hill-Jenkins}

Day one: Porridge Radio 

Strong images pour out of Porridge Radio singer Dana Margolin, whether in the form of poetry, paintings (seen on album covers, band merch and in original works) or vivid lyrics heard in the band’s raw and rousing discography. From their formation in 2015, this Brighton quartet have risen through the DIY ranks with three albums, the second of which (Every Bad) earned a Mercury nomination in the pandemic-plagued 2020 awards. ‘I still really love that album,’ says Margolin, who’s enjoying some downtime when I catch up with her strolling through sunny north London. ‘I’m proud of the songs but also excited about the new stuff that is, in my mind, better. I think everything we do gets better than the last thing.’ 

Read the full interview here.

^{Berta Kennedy}

Day two: Berta Kennedy 

Berta Kennedy is an enthusiast and a realist. The alt.pop singer-songwriter has been performing since her mid-teens but first hit wider recognition when she was named as the SAY Award’s Sound Of Young Scotland winner for 2022. It’s an accolade she describes as ‘probably the most monumental thing to happen in my career so far’.

Yet at the same time she provides the reality check. ‘Any up-and-coming artist is probably waiting on at least three applications for something coming back to them, putting yourself out there, trying to get a wee step ahead with a bit of funding or a bit of status or an opportunity. I just got that one.’

Read the full interview here.

^{Billy Got Waves}

Day three: Billy Got Waves

Billy Got Waves coined his stage name after the late fashion icon Virgil Abloh left a wave emoji beneath an old Instagram post. Like Abloh, he doesn’t settle for mediocrity when it comes to his art.

‘I create music that I feel, in my own head, is ahead of its time,’ asserts the young Edinburgh rapper. ‘I like to create music that kind of gives me that feeling of nostalgia, but at the same time is something that I’ve never heard before.’

His latest release, ‘Heaven’, is the first single from upcoming EP, Rocket Boy 3/3. ‘The song is about me first meeting my now ex-girlfriend, and is basically about being so encapsulated by somebody that you’re just like “wow, this is a goddess in real life”.’

Due out on 26 May, Rocket Boy 3/3 completes a trilogy of EPs, and Billy Got Waves predicts that his live showcase at Hidden Door will do more than enough to enthral the crowd. ‘To be honest, my show is very emotional; it tugs at different emotions throughout the whole thing, because I perform Rocket Boy kind of from start to finish, so it goes from EP 1 all the way to EP 3, in the linear way that I meant it to be. It tells a story, but also there’s a live band, loads of synths encompassing everything, crazy electric guitar, trap: it’s a whole experience.’

If his endearing confidence and unfaltering self-belief in the power of his project is anything to go by, Billy Got Waves’ set will be an essential fixture of this latest Hidden Door. (Danny Munro)

^{Frozemode/Picture: Nicholas O'Donnell}

Day four: Frozemode 

Bringing a DIY spirit to alternative rap, Frozemode have crash landed with excitable hooks and the attitude of a band ready to hit the stratosphere. Comprised of IV GATLIN, Lisong and Cho-Hollow, their combination of lightning speed delivery, propulsive guitars and scrappy production will entice anyone who loves slowthai or Jamie T. Frozemode’s mix of punk, garage and drum & bass has a lairy edge to it, a rambunctious flair that’ll cause havoc at house parties and provoke moshpits more hardcore than a WrestleMania slobberknocker. It’s the kind of music that should make half of their Hidden Door crowd bellow ‘oi, oi, oi!’ in between songs. 

While it’s still early doors for the band, they’re already enjoying plaudits from high-profile sources. BBC Radio 1 presenter Jack Saunders has been one of their most strident champions since the release of debut single ‘Maybelline’ last December, featuring it on the Next Wave segment of his show and earning them a cult following that continues to blossom.

Their second single ‘Simon Says’, a lo-fi banger about holding a crowd in the palm of your hand and embracing chaos, shows that this is a band who might just live up to the hype. How they’ll build on these promising foundations is yet to be seen, but they’ve already cracked translating their hyperactive sound to a live setting. Expect Frozemode to get the party started when they bound on stage at Hidden Door. (Kevin Fullerton)

^{Pillow Queens}

Day five: Pillow Queens 

This time last year, Pillow Queens were neck deep in a worldwide tour of their sophomore album, Leave The Light On. They crossed Europe, the UK and USA (making a second appearance on James Corden’s The Late Late Show), scored a nomination for the Choice Music Prize Irish Album Of The Year, and bagged a supporting slot at Phoebe Bridgers’ sold-out Glasgow shows. It’s been a wild ride. But now, at last, they’re home. 

Read the full interview here.

^{Alliyah Enyo/Picture: Miriam Craddock}

The non-music highlights

The Environments, a series of six immersive voyages through zones that invite the audience to experience the likes of Hill, Wasteland, Garden and Forest. This leads to the less-familiar sounding terrain of Aphotic Archaeology (the aphotic zone being the portion of a lake with little or no sunlight) and Holocene (or current geological epoch).

Dance is to the fore in The Environments, with new works by choreographer Róisín O’Brien and composer Rowan McIlvride; dancer Kai Tomioka explores conflict with artist Zoe Gibson; there’s Chinese folk dance from Yuxi Jiang, and dance theatre by Tess Letham featuring costumes from Cleo Rose McCabe. Elsewhere, opera singer Stephanie Lamprea collaborates with dance artist Penny Chivas, composer Tom W Green and visual artist Oana Stanciu to examine themes of extinction.

Read the full article here. 

Hidden Door takes place at The Complex, Edinburgh from Wednesday 31 May-Sunday 4 June.