Pillow Queens are the latest headliners to be announced for the mini-festival in Co. Meath

Launching a new music festival in the midst of a pandemic is no easy feat, but Natasha Duffy and Caroline Duke are clearly in it for the right reasons.

The pair were previously behind the Spirit of Folk Festival and have now launched SoFFT Nights, an intimate socially-distanced gathering of music, storytelling and art in a small village in Co. Meath.

The first SoFFT Nights took place in October after a long year of little to no live music, and further dates and line-ups have been announced for 2021.

Today, the line-up for the May installment is revealed, with Pillow Queens, Roe and Art of Algebra playing Dunderry Park in Co. Meath on May 21st and 22nd.

We had a chat with Natasha Duffy about the origin of SoFFT Nights and where they're planning to take the festival next.

Can you explain a little about what SoFFT Nights is, and how you came up with the idea?

Sofft Nights is a mini-festival that will be held once per month on the grounds of Dunderry Park in Co. Meath in 2021. It is an event born out of the challenges of Covid and based on a Stage 2 model, which is 100 persons outdoors. I think the last year has shown us that arts, music and culture is pivotal to our wellbeing and we wanted to be able to create a live event that could be attended in a safe way. It helps that we have 25 acres of parkland to play with!

The first one was held in October, how did that go?

It was a healing process for everyone concerned.It was interesting to see audiences, organisers and performers come together in what felt like a new and significant solidarity. When it's a festival for 100, the 100 become very important. It was an intimate and personal experience.

What are the biggest challenges of running a festival in the midst of a pandemic?

Well, when doing anything that involves an audience these days, it needs to be thorough and conscientious. We firmly believed that it was culturally important to figure out how to get it done within Level 2 restrictions. The biggest unknown for us was the question of whether 100 patrons would be enough to create a vibe. The answer is yes!

Were you surprised by anything – the audience reaction, the artists' reaction, etc.?

We worked hard on the curation of the event. It was very important to us that it didn't just feel like a gig. It surprised us how participatory people were, with the drumming workshops, the spoken word, the fire pits, the performance art pop-ups. It really was the best of a festival in a day.

Have bands and artists generally been enthusiastic when approached, or have some been reluctant to commit to anything, given the circumstances?

Overall, we are working off Phase 2 by end of March. Nobody really knows what the next 6/8 months is going to bring yet. With Sofft Nights being a socially-distanced outdoor mini-festival, we fully expect it to go ahead; there is nothing speculative about the programming of it. This has definitely helped in the booking of bands and artists.

Tell us about the bands announced today for May – Pillow Queens, Roe and Art of Algebra.

Pillow Queens have been on our wish list since we started programming the event. Without a doubt we feel they had one of the best albums of 2020 and they are incredible live performers with a great attitude and important things to say. Roe, we felt, would be a fantastic artist to play on this lineup - her music is infectious and feel-good, and Art of Algebra is without a doubt an artist to watch out for in 2021. His sound blends a mix of electronica sub-genres including ambient, trip-hop, and downtempo and we can really see our audiences chilling to this as it gets dusky at The Park.

Why, in a nutshell, should people buy tickets?

We believe Sofft Nights is something genuinely significant. The mini-festival is a community, where folk freely mix with artists and musicians. The intimacy of numbers means everyone has a role, it's a simple thing that fundamentally feels really good.

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Sofft Nights runs monthly in 2021 beginning in March. See here for dates and tickets.