A funeral on day 2 stopped me covering any gigs that night, so it was back on the horse on Friday, day 3, for what promised to be the ‘fringe’ night of the event.The Mountains & The Trees is Jon Janes. He plays guitar, banjo, mandolin, ukulele, harmonica, bells, drums, and sings. After spending most of his musical career behind the drums, Janes finally came out of hiding (it was a large drum-kit!) and embraced the singer-songwriter inside. Shy at first, he adopted the stage moniker The Mountains & The Trees and played music he describes as ‘Folk-N-Roll.’ Originally a two-piece, it shrunk to a solo act, then grew to a 3-piece, 4-piece, shrunk again to a 2-piece, grew again to a 3-pie… you get the idea. The size of The Mountains & The Trees changes with the weather and, often, with whomever in the crowd is brave enough to step on stage to play and sing along. With his female partner in crime on keys and percussive tools, Janes failed to light my fire although he communicated easily and well with his tiny audience. OK but not great, and lacking in that passion we so often (and rightly) associate with folk music.

We Came Out Like Tigers, however, and at the same venue couldn’t have been more passionate and animated. Hailing from Liverpool, this band majors on punk rock instrumentals which is just as well because Mykle Oliver Smith’s vocals were undecipherable… Fabian Devlin on guitar provided a fabulous display and in front of another tiny audience the band gave a music festival performance. Watch out for these guys…

Wild Beasts have history and a sell-out crowd at the Kazimier proved that this Leeds based four-piece has built a solid fan-base after two critically acclaimed albums. Falsetto vocals, dark vibe, distinctive sound, alongside songs with depth and melody, kept the audience in raptures, and I was impressed.

The Jessie Rose Trip is a four-piece band with a waif-like front-woman straight out of a comic book. Jessie Rose was mightily impressive on vocals and lead guitar, and with commendable support from James Wood on drums, Mark Lewis on bass and Jonny Thomson on trumpet and piano, this as yet unsigned band shouldn’t be that way for too long. Hailing from Manchester, this band’s rock-soul-pop music is original, distinctive and danceable.

But it’s 21 year old Jessie Rose who was the focus of attention. With true northern soul and panache, Jessie writes her own material and plays multiple instruments - and cites everyone from Billie Holiday to John Frusciante as influences. “I’ve been brought up on soul music, 60s Motown, northern soul, 30s/40s jazz… stuff like Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Ray Charles, The Supremes, mind you my dad was a rocker so the love of Hendrix, Led Zep etc came from him.

Their new single ‘You Won’t Forget Me Boy’, which launches Garden Records, follows those much lauded performances across the UK & Europe, New York’s CMJ music festival and live radio sessions including Mark Lamarr’s Radio 2 show from the BBC Maida Vale studios and as Music Week posted, “their soulful, powerful vocals, idiosyncratic and highly original music, and fantastic dress sense spit star power.”