Final Descent x Ny Bastion: Jennifer Reid (UK) + Spitzer Space Telescope (UK/US) + Mika Akim (SE/DK) + FFFF DJ

Join us for an evening at Ny Bastion featuring forgotten and revived English working-class songs from tradition-bearer and activist Jennifer Reid, a journey through American folk music and songwriting traditions with Spitzer Space Telescope, and reimagined Nordic folk from Danish-Swedish artist Mika Akim.

The Fanø Free Folk Festival DJ Crew will be spinning fitting tunes before, between and after the shows!

Date: Wednesday 28.10.26
Doors: 19:00
Show: 20:30
Price: 130 DKK in presale / 150 DKK at the door
Venue: Ny Bastion, Refshalevej 28, 1432 Copenhagen

Jennifer Reid
Jennifer Reid is a singer, researcher and tradition bearer based in Manchester, and one of the most distinctive voices in the new British folk movement. Her work is rooted in the working-class song traditions of Lancashire and Northern England, particularly the songs that emerged around the Industrial Revolution among weavers, factory workers and local communities whose stories have rarely found their way into the official folk canon.

Through extensive archival research, teaching and performance, Reid revives forgotten songs and stories from the industrial landscapes of Northern England. At the same time, she actively engages with questions of representation, identity and belonging within folk music, exploring how traditional song forms can remain relevant to people today. Her practice is grounded in the belief that folk music is not simply cultural heritage, but a living community in which new voices and experiences must be given space.

Reid has performed at festivals and venues across the UK and internationally, including touring with Eliza Carthy, performing with Pulp and John Cooper Clarke, and appearing in Shane Meadows’ television series The Gallows Pole. On stage, she combines storytelling, humour and a powerful presence with an uncompromising love for the songs and people she represents.

At Ny Bastion, Jennifer Reid will perform solo, presenting a selection of traditional and more recent songs drawn from her work with Northern English working-class traditions.

https://jenniferreid.bandcamp.com/album/the-ballad-of-the-gatekeeper

Spitzer Space Telescope
Spitzer Space Telescope is the long-running folk project of American songwriter and visual artist Dan MacDonald. For more than fifteen years, he has explored the relationship between traditional American folk songs and contemporary stories. His music draws on Appalachian ballads, old-time music and the American folk revival of the 1960s, while using the forms and language of tradition to address contemporary social and political issues.

MacDonald’s artistic practice grows out of a fascination with the history of folk music and its ability to preserve stories across generations. He describes his work as an attempt to write new songs that sound as though they have always existed, while speaking directly to the realities of the present day. This balance between historical authenticity and contemporary relevance has made Spitzer Space Telescope a distinctive voice within the international wave of artists reinterpreting traditional musical forms in a modern context.

At Ny Bastion, Spitzer Space Telescope will perform solo with a repertoire of original songs and interpretations of American traditions. Audiences can expect an intimate, narrative-driven concert in which storytelling, traditional melodic sensibilities and songwriting take centre stage.

https://spitzerspacetelescope2.bandcamp.com/album/iii

Mika Akim
Mika Akim is the solo project of Swedish-born, Copenhagen-based violist, composer and songwriter Mika Persdotter. Her music moves between minimalist songwriting, experimental pop, folk traditions and the sound world of early and baroque music, centred around the viola d’amore – a rare string instrument whose resonating sympathetic strings give it a distinctive, shimmering sound.

The project began after Persdotter encountered a viola d’amore outside Prague and started writing songs for the instrument, exploring its relationship with the voice, the body and repetition. The resulting music is intimate and cyclical, built from sparse melodic forms, acoustic resonance and understated experimentation. Sung in Swedish and English, her songs move freely between the familiarity of folk song and a more abstract, contemporary approach to composition.

Mika Akim has released three acclaimed albums: Till Kroppen (2020), Tillsammans (2022) and feb 28 (2026). She has performed throughout Europe as well as in the US, Japan and Chile, including appearances at SuperDeluxe in Japan, The Owl Music Parlor in Brooklyn, Michelberger in Berlin, Fanø Free Folk and Thelonious in Santiago de Chile.

Alongside Mika Akim, Persdotter is an active figure in Copenhagen’s experimental, contemporary and early-music scenes, and has worked with ensembles including Halvcirkel, Damkapellet, Wolfskin Ensemble and Stök.

https://mikaakim.bandcamp.com/

Read more at finaldescent.org