Back for its 14th year, the inimitable Lawnya Vawnya returns to venues across downtown St. John's from June 5 to 8. As if getting to enjoy the vibrant local culture and Newfoundland scenery wasn't enough — our Editor-in-Chief insists you make time to walk up Signal Hill — there’s an incredible all-CanCon lineup of live musical acts.
In honour of tickets for the festival now being on sale, here are Exclaim!'s five must-see acts for the 2024 edition of Lawnya Vawnya.
Aquakultre
Having crowdsourced funding to open a 24/7 community jam space in Halifax in 2022, the soul songwriter born Lance Sampson's dedication to fostering the culture so it can thrive goes fairly well unmatched. He paves a better future by paying homage to the past in his music, with the intergenerational groove of "Africvillean Funk" from Don’t Trip making our Best Songs list that same year.
Blunt Chunks
Caitlin Woelfle-O’Brien has been cutting her teeth performing across Toronto for years, both as Blunt Chunks and with her band Jaunt. Her excellent debut album The Butterfly Myth is finally set to come out next month, and there's a universal sweetness at its core and '90s alt-inspired eclecticism that makes it feel like an instant classic.
DEBBY FRIDAY
One of the foremost Canadian artists of 2023 was undoubtedly DEBBY FRIDAY. From the release of her Polaris Prize-winning debut album GOOD LUCK to delighting international audiences on tour with her genre-bending sound, irrepressible energy and fire 'fits, she was an entire week's worth of entertainment — and, knowing her, she'll only be levelling up in 2024.
myst milano.
You quite literally can’t miss myst milano.; she’s the type of artist who immediately demands your attention. The bombastic Toronto rapper released her sophomore album Beyond the Uncanny Valley — which landed on our 50 Best Albums of 2023 list — last year, and is already slated for a guest spot on Cadence Weapon's new album and an Osheaga appearance in 2024.
Needle Crafts
Exclaim! New Faves alumni and local pop-punk troupe lived up to their name with the cross-stitch artwork for their debut album, Frow'd Up, last fall, which also appears to feature pink sheets with little ghosts on them. If that's the type of kitschy hyper-specificity you live for, you'll definitely want to untangle the threads of Needle Crafts' regional references when they perform their riff-laden tunes with the home-court advantage.
