There was something quietly full-circle about having the chance to see Maria Somerville in Cardiff. The last time I’d watched her perform was in Barcelona's ornate Sala Apolo during Primavera 2025. To find that same sense of immersion recreated in a smaller room felt oddly nostalgic, like stepping back into a moment you didn’t realise you’d missed until it returned. 

True to her aesthetic, three silhouettes slowly emerged behind a smoke-filled stage, taking their places with little fanfare. Easing in with hushed intensity, Somerville soon slipped into Garden, a standout from last year’s Luster album on 4AD. It unfolded patiently, her vocals suspended in reverb before a deep, swelling low end gathered beneath. That balance with fragility hovering above a rumbling undercurrent became the defining thread of the night.

What makes Somerville’s live show so compelling is the stark pull between creating atmosphere and impact. One moment you’re suspended in near-weightless ambient drift; the next, chest-rattling basslines and tightly wound percussion snap everything into sharp focus.

Taking the audience on a journey through sound, Projections carried a hypnotic pulse, its rhythm coiling tighter and tighter before unfurling into something expansive. Elsewhere, Spring felt particularly transportive, its wide, immersive soundscapes stretching far beyond the walls of the venue, conjuring open skies and distant horizons. And when Stonefly arrived, it landed with a heavier thud - bass reverberating through the floor while her voice hovered, calm and resolute, above the storm.

The crowd remained contemplative throughout, absorbed in every echoing nuance. The quieter passages drew a near-reverent stillness, each subtle shift in texture given space to breathe. Then, as the percussion struck and the sub-bass rolled in, the sound became something physical, felt as much as heard.

Back in Cardiff, far from Primavera’s vastness, Maria Somerville proved that scale is irrelevant when the atmosphere is this enveloping. The same sense of immersion, the same tidal pull, just distilled into something closer and more intimate, and arguably even more powerful for it.

i: https://www.instagram.com/maria__somerville