Heartbroken Festival Fiesta
As the year is coming to an inevitable end, I had the amazing opportunity to attend the Heartbroken festival at Heartbreakers in Southampton. Getting to support local and other Hampshire based bands is something I love doing as a music lover.
Sonne
Sonne (Pronounced Sonn-uh) was the first band to start the event, they performed four songs in which they showed different sides to their musicality, as a rock band they are not afraid to use different types of instrumentation in their music.
I noticed that all members cover more than one role within the band, for example Thomas Abercromby is in charge of the vocals, songwriting and guitar while Stephen Baker oversees the guitar synth and writing, on the drums Daniel Hyde and finally Dinis Correia on percussion.
My favourite moments from the band’s performance were their performance of their debut single ‘Bear Trap’ (which you can find on their Spotify page) and their performance of an unreleased track titled ‘Sidewinder’, the song was truly an uplifter.
I found Thomas’ roaring vocals the highlight of the song. I remember after the performance going up to Valentina Longo who serves as the bassist, secondary vocalist and manager of the band, begging to release the track officially.
Sonne is a band to keep an eye on as they are unafraid to blend different styles of music like Krautrock, Hard Rock, Post-Rock and Post-Punk music.
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Oxygen
Following up, Oxygen was the second band to perform showing the Southampton crowd at Heartbreakers what these 4 talented guys from Portsmouth are all about.
Their performance at Heartbreakers was pleasant as one of my favourite parts of their performance were the vocals and stage presence.
As a band that blends rock music with indie styles of music, The band’s use of anthemic choruses is what makes their music alluring, and that knight at the festival I truly felt the magic.
Oxygen has officially released 4 tracks since 2023. ‘Facade’ (2023). As of 2025 the band has released 3 singles titled ‘Turning into One’, ‘Daylight’, and finally ‘Don’t Forget’ which you can find on their Spotify page.
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Highdrive
Highdrive performed as the third band of the night, their music is a blend of post-punk, indie rock, and hard rock.
Their set was impressive, I would say that I was impressed a lot on the instrumentation, and how well the band would interact with each other on stage.
Highdrive has certainly interesting chord progressions and an amazing vocal prowess.
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Cruush
One of the latter bands that performed throughout the night was ‘Cruush’, who I absolutely loved. The band brought such a unique and uplifting aura to the venue, and the music was close to my music tastes as well.
The band’s music sounded like a factory about to explode, yet so alluring and pretty. I felt the immense distortion and at some point, the music was so loud that it felt like the sounds were playing inside my chest and head.
As a band, they are fearless when it comes to the material of their music, mixing grunge, metal, industrial sounds and corrosive distortions. Members known as Amber who is the lead vocalist, and guitarist, Fotis as the drummer and Charlie as the bassist.
Cruush is a band that should be on everyone’s Spotify playlist if you enjoy a fierce female voice on experimental/grunge/rock music.
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Visit their website
CIEL
As we progressed through the night, the second to last band was CIEL who is a Brighton based band, their craft mixes a variety of moody indie rock, gothic and post-punk music.
I personally had knowledge of them before, as I had found my way on their page when their song ‘Fine Everything’ (2022) had come on shuffle and since then, I have been quietly keeping an eye on them.
The duo’s performance at the festival was just spectacular, their music has this gothic and atmospheric charm with the mixing of heavy guitars, basslines and great rhythms, while serving gorgeous and haunting vocals, that translated beautifully in the performance.
Their debut album titled ‘Call Me Silent’ has released this year and is one of my personal favourite records in the genre.
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Pale Blue Eyes (PBE)
The headliners of the show. Pale Blue Eyes (PBE) was also another band I was aware of and had prior listening experience with.
Their performance was different from all the other acts as they were the only ones who got incredibly electronic with their music, one thing that I found very engaging to their performance was the fact that they were connecting their songs with each other, with an ambient atmospheric synth connecting each song.
If I am being completely honest their performance was my personal favourite of the night, from the sheer amount of entrancing and hypnotising synths to the loud and distorted electric guitars and other worldly aura and energy of the band itself.
The band has released 3 studio albums through out the span of their career ‘Souvenirs’ (2022), ‘This House’ (2023) and ‘New Place’ (2025). You can also check out their recently released PBE archive project ‘The Park’ and ‘New Boots’ on streaming.
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Words by Martin Canga. Music Business student.
Photos credits to Martin Canga.Â
