“Dylan Cartlidge first came onto the scene with his debut release ‘Love Spoons’ / ‘Strawberry Blonde’s Snip’. Hailing from a small town in the North-East of England and with the phrase “Hope Above Adversity” as his motto, the stars aligned for Dylan when he was spotted by a management team and signed by Glassnote Music in 2018.”
As he began to forge his path into the music industry with his earlier releases, (‘Scratch, Sniff, 2018’) he collaborated with UK indie icon Jamie T, garnered praise from national radio tastemakers including Annie Mac, Huw Stephens, Jack Saunders, Phil Taggart and Matt Wilkinson. He also gained a glut of UK print support, with NME simply describing his sound as “f**king brilliant”. He released his debut full EP ‘Monsters Under The Bed’ in April 2019. On the live side, his bourgeoning fanbase lapped up a 13 date headline tour as well as performances at SXSW, Glastonbury and Radio One’s Big Weekend up in Middlesbrough.
A true lover and supporter of his northern hometown, Dylan first arrived in Redcar at the age of 16, having been born in Stoke and spent part of his childhood with foster families before settling in North Yorkshire with his adopted mum. Having grown up listening to chart pop and rap – think Lupe Fiasco and Kid Cudi – it was where his peers would put him onto the likes of The White Stripes and The Black Keys which helped mix up his musical influences to produce something quite unique.
Musically, Dylan boasts an uncanny talent for deconstructing and subverting genres that he honed in his teenage years, it’s not hard to see why Dylan has drawn comparisons with everyone from Beck to Andre 3000. It’s a stylistic mix that’s reflected in his unique image: timelessly cool afro; Americana-inspired Hawaiian shirts; Elvis-style cuban collars. While no two of his songs are quite the same, the constants are a boundary-squashing, scattergun approach to genre, and an ability to connect with the deeper fabric of British society in these complex times. His ethos is one of “hope above adversity, though I don’t want to sound preachy or like I’m trying to fix all the world’s problems. If people want to listen to my music and just groove, they can, but if people relate to it that’s great”.
Having spent the last year or so meeting and writing with like-minded musical mavericks, Dylan is super excited to release his new music this spring. The first offering is the brilliant Yellow Brick Road – produced by James Dring (Jamie T, Gorillaz) which will set the ball rolling for a run of singles into the summer.
