30 October 2026
“Sorry we’re late”, Silver Gore frontperson Ava Gore says. “A tree fell on the tracks at Haywards Heath. We just got here.” Across the 2026 edition of Mutations, Storm Austen tore part of the West Pier down, soaked punters, and blew them into venues for what seemed like the busiest year yet.
The frankly Herculean efforts of Form’s team remain the most vital part of the weekend. Between multiple bands dropping out due to illness, trees on tracks, and a flood at Green Door Store, it seemed bands could have been destined to wander Brighton like aimless stray dogs. Splitting them between The Prince Albert and Alphabet with barely an hour’s notice, Form found them good homes and kept the ball rolling when many may have just given up.
After a few early-afternoon beverages on Friday, we collected our passes from Chalk. First up was Mouth Ulcers at Patterns – a gloomy, metronomic dirge of gothic post-punk, indebted to the likes of Molchat Doma or The Cure.
Each year at Mutations, the Friday night sees wristband holders split into two factions: the Patterns and Chalk pinballing on the seafront, or the Prince Albert, Hope & Ruin and Green Door loyalists. We remained firmly in the former.
The latest in a line of Irish exports, Basht landed at Chalk for their fourth Brighton show of the year. From the moody chug of ‘Stockholm’ to the incendiary despair of ‘Kids Vs Guns’, Basht proved Ireland’s scene is more than just Fontaines D.C – channelling the same furious despair as the likes of fellow upcomers Gurriers. Closing on the distorted bite of ‘Wild Horses’, frontman Jack Leavey’s earlier mention of ‘This is our third time at the festival but our first time at Chalk’ feels like an aspiration to a future headline. Frankly, they’re well on their way.
With a double-whammy of doomed post-punk to open, Patterns hosted the first party. Sapporos in hand but missing our Loop earplugs proved to be a punishing mistake: Japanese industrial techno outfit Bed left my ears ringing. Dissonant and thumping, Bed channels the hard techno of Berghain’s heavier, leather-clad nights with Nine Inch Nails’ artistry for a sonic boom that bridges nightlife and punk. With little interaction beyond the obligatory “Thank You”, Bed was content to let the unrelenting ‘デトロイト｜Detoroito’ and the crunching screech of ‘妬心｜Toshin’ do the talking for them. Despite a huge number of Mutations Friday cohort choosing Squid, Bed’s adrenaline-accelerating set brought to mind John Simm’s famous phrase from ‘Human Traffic’: “THE WEEKEND HAS LANDED.”
During an extended detour to Hope & Ruin to refuel and drink down their supply of Brixton’s tropical lager, Canadian psych-janglers Besnard Lakes provided a subdued warm-up for the rightly dubbed ‘house band’ of Mutations: Scaler. Taking to the stage at nearly 1 am is a big ask, but a respectable crowd at Chalk seemed content to sacrifice the first few hours of their Saturday for the monolithic decks-and-live-band combo. Glittering synths meet shrieking dissonance for an impossible-to-pin set, hypnotising a room into accepting the next day’s lie-in. ‘Remain In Stasis’ is all cyber eardrum decimation in a set of hypnotic shreds.
It’s practically a rite of passage to run on fumes for a festival. In my final one of the year, I accepted that flat whites, pints, and the occasional sausage roll would fuel my Saturday. Even as a shell of a man, I successfully joined the opposing faction and made it down to The Prince Albert for Jo From School’s 1:30 pm set, her fuzzed bedroom-pop brand positioning her as a successor to Beabadoobee. Closer ‘Julia Roberts’ may be the best song of the year named after an iconic 00s actress; sorry, Adela and Nicole Kidman.
With the unfortunate floodwater swimming pool inside Green Door Store, The Prince Albert swarmed with punters. Swiftly, I dodged the crowd and braved the torrential downpour to secure my place at Hope & Ruin for Esmeralda Road. Only to find, on arrival, they’d cancelled the night before. To quote the words of Bear Grylls, “Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.” Making the most of the location, Manchester’s Mleko provided the biggest surprise of the weekend. With the same off-kilter approach to jazz-rock as current favourites Knats, ‘Tom’s Tune’ brought to mind previous headliners Black Country New Road’s early records: a frenzied, staccato-heavy storm of counter-melodies and sliding parts.
A brief detour ensued at Chalk for Bella Union signees Plantoid; we braved the winds outside to join a cult – Dutch punk outfit Iguana Death Cult – at Patterns, that is. Earning a fervent response for manosphere-indicting ‘Supreme Leader’ before moving both barrels to consumerism for ‘I Like It, It’s Nice’ to close out a set with absurd humour and energy.
Parking ourselves back at Chalk for the home stretch, recent Mercury Prize nominee Dove Ellis took to the stage for one of the weekend’s most hyped sets. Despite parts of the crowd audibly awaiting Mike D’s headline, Ellis’ set was lighter on interaction but huge on pedigree. The opening notes of sparse ‘Feathers, Cash’ confirm what has already been speculated: Dove Ellis may be the second coming of Jeff Buckley. His voice, both gentle and striking, is the same as recorded – the delicate despair of ‘Pale Song’ swells with a similar feeling to Big Thief’s most gut-wrenching moments, while ‘To The Sandals’ channels raw chamber-folk suitable for the rain outside. Closer ‘Love Is’ rises into a lecturing boom that demands attention, with Ellis rising to the occasion of an arguably tough slot, testament to the draw of Saturday’s headliner.
There’s an energy in Chalk I’ve rarely felt before in the build-up to Mike D’s headline: a sense of anticipation, or joy in the return of someone no one expected to. This is the power of Mutations: there’s something for everyone, from legacy acts to future arena stalwarts. The booking remains second to none, and the multi-venue approach encourages the kind of discovery that creates invaluable word-of-mouth hype. With the streets of Brighton adorned with enough wristbands and lanyards to rival The Great Escape, I have no doubt I will be there for Mutations 2027. Mike D’s headline captured the feeling: future-facing, crowd-pleasing but not nostalgia-baiting. I can’t wait to see what you evolve into next.
Read the full Mike D review here.
Words by Keir Shields.