Folk Platform: Once a Fig + Spafford Campbell

Once a Fig 

Once A Fig intertwine Swedish and English folk traditions with original music and improvisation. The trio spin trance-like melodies which morph into electrifying groove-based tunes, as tales from the forest meet daydreams in the big city. They have opened up a new world with their strong chemistry and unique sound.  

Rebecka Edlund is a Swedish singer, lyricist and composer. Her debut album ’Något om en björk’ (2022) was nominated by Lira Music Magazine as the best folk jazz album of the year. Rebecka is the curator of The Downstairs Living Room Series at Vortex Jazz Club. Her new project ’Virgin Forest’ features the extraordinary musical minds of Laura Jurd, Elliot Galvin and Ruth Goller.   

Cori Smith is a viola player, composer and BBC Young Folk Musician finalist from the North of England. She weaves together her different musical backgrounds creating entrancing and thought-provoking sounds. She plays with Laura Jurd, tours with Peregrine Circus and performs original music with experimental folk duo Tightrope Moon.  

Phoebe Harty is a cellist who grew up in the Lancashire folk scene, and is a BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Awards finalist. Phoebe has recorded and performed with leading folk artists including Kuljit Bhamra, Natalie Haas and Sussou Sunto. She performs her original music with the trio Once A Fig and songwriting duo Phoebe & Tom.  

Spafford Campbell  

‘This is a fusing of the traditional and the futuristic that is quietly groundbreaking, and beguiling with it.’ ★★★★ The Times — albums of the year so far 2025   

Spafford Campbell are twenty-something mould-breakers, fiddle player Owen Spafford and guitarist Louis Campbell.    

The two first met as teenagers playing traditional music. The connection, they say, was immediate. Spafford Campbell began playing live in 2018, prompting double takes with their delicacy, dynamism and seemingly telepathic exchanges. 

Their 2025 album ‘Tomorrow Held’ folds in elements of jazz, post-rock and chamber classical music while raiding the folk music toolbox. Call it what you want: post-folk. Trad-noir. Folk nihilism. Then know that Spafford Campbell are blazing a trail that erases genre — and finds gold in the embers. 

Spafford Campbell © Lara Laeverenz