2025 in Notts music was mostly defined by awards. Rave-metal sister duo ALT BLK ERA won a MOBO award, rapper Jayahadadream won two Youth Music Awards including the Rising Star prize – and beloved venue The Bodega was crowned Grassroots Champion at the LIVE Awards.
Locally, we also saw the return of Splendour Festival with the Future Sound of Nottingham winners Saffron Gray and Archie & The Astronauts opening the festival main stage. This got us thinking – who are the next breakout stars from Nottingham and who can we expect to shine in the year ahead? After much deliberation, here’s six artists we expect to have a big 2026…
Book of Churches
Who: Divorce’s Felix Mackenzie-Barrow goes solo
What to expect: Self-titled debut album – 6 March
Not content with taking over UK indie music with Divorce in 2025, Felix has revealed that a new solo project will be arriving in early 2026. All written, recorded and produced at his home on Garageband – between Divorce tours – the first single offering, titled Song for A Stranger, is a lush and ethereal appetizer. If the album wasn’t enough, Felix will also be playing a show at Nottingham Contemporary on 1 May, giving locals a chance to hear this sparsely raw collection of songs in a very cosy and intimate setting.
Eyre Llew
Who: Nottingham’s legendary ambient post-rock export
What to expect: New album, title TBC – expected late 2026
It’s been almost a decade since Eyre Llew released their beloved debut album Atelo: a record that has since become a cult classic within the local scene. Now the much-anticipated sophomore effort is finally on the horizon, and the band have put everything into the making of it.
Recorded in a secluded barn deep in the Yorkshire Moors, their old garage studio in Lincolnshire, their Nottingham homes, and even Rough Trade, the album was finally mastered in the iconic Abbey Road studios last year. Thematically, frontman Sam Heaton said the new project “is about fresh beginnings: loyalty, love, grief and finding light again. It’s about hope essentially – trusting that good things are still ahead, even when everything changes.” As a message for 2026, it couldn’t feel more timely.
Lace Thief
Who: Multi-faceted creative and singer-songwriter Laura Dickinson
What to expect: Debut album Inheritance – 25 April
Over the past couple of years, Laura Dickinson has built up a strong following locally through her heartfelt live performances and a string of dreamy, folk-inspired singles. Now the time has finally come for Laura to share her debut album, titled Inheritance.
Emerging from a story of loss, she describes the album as “exploring the parts of ourselves we inherit from the people around us and how, in a beautifully circular way, they continue to live through us and us through them.” Based on what we have heard from Lace Thief so far, we expect this album to be something quite special. If you want to be one of the first to hear it, Laura will also be playing an album launch show at Rough Trade on the day of Inheritance’s release.
People Laughing
Who: Fast-rising Derbyshire rock trio
What to expect: Debut single One Thing out now
The most junior pick on this list, People Laughing are so new, they only just released their first single and played their first ever live show back in January – a support slot for punk outfit The Molotovs at Rescue Rooms.
However, one show and one song has ultimately been enough to send the hype machine into overdrive about this group’s potential, with a set even announced at Splendour this year. Brought together following some early demos by guitarist and frontman Matt Grocott (formerly of The Shrives), their sound is built around direct, emotionally charged songwriting. It pairs Matt’s distorted, Strokes-tinged vocals with Luke Hallam’s driving drums and Ollie Carnell’s melodic basslines. Bursting with energy, clarity, and most importantly fan connection, you can expect People Laughing to quickly blow up over the next twelve months.
Vona Vella
Who: Breakout indie quintet and proprietors of The Grove
What to expect: Second album Carnival – 27 February
If we‘re looking for the next Nottingham band to go national, Vona Vella currently seems the most likely. The band have built up plenty of media buzz ahead of their second album dropping later this month, with lots of changes since their 2023 self-titled debut. Firstly, the band has grown from a duo into a five-piece, their sound evolving and enrichening in the process.
Singer-guitarist Dan Cunningham also now co-owns Sneinton Market venue The Grove, having successfully transformed it into a recording studio and space for live music. From there these new songs have grown, with Carnival then recorded down on the Kent coast in Margate at The Libertines' famed studio – The Albion Rooms. With this new album shaping up to be the band’s big launchpad, we advise heading along to their Bodega homecoming show in April, and catch them playing a small capacity venue while you still can.
Willow Bay
Who: Promising, big-hearted indie-folk trio
What to expect: Debut EP Evangeline – 27 February
Willow Bay first came onto our radar whilst supporting George Gadd & The Aftermath at The Bodega in October last year, their beautiful harmonies and folky rhythms lighting up the room that night. Their most recent single – I Want It All – followed, a song of yearning built on bluesy guitars and resonant lyrics, a perfect example of everything that this young band does so well.
Their songs already feel timeless and their musicianship is accomplished well beyond their years, with their early singles sounding like they’ve quickly found their identity and knack for songwriting. If this is how great they sound on their debut EP, we can only imagine what the future might hold. If you want to begin your love affair with Willow Bay’s music, they will be launching Evangeline at The Carousel on 28 February.
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