Nowadays Festival: Bells Larsen at the Sanctuary Arts Centre

NOWADAYS FESTIVAL 2026

Bells Larsen live at the Sanctuary Arts Centre

With special guests Townie

On his sophomore album Blurring Time (2025), Bells Larsen collapses past and present into an intimate meditation on becoming. Moving between spacious lo-fi '90s indie and searing folk ballads, the album is structured around Larsen's transition: he recorded his previous "high" voice in 2022, waited for his voice to drop after starting testosterone, and asked longtime friend and frequent collaborator Georgia Harmer to arrange harmonies for his new "low" voice. By placing both at the forefront, *Blurring Time* becomes a living duet—a bold, unyielding devotional that has drawn attention from artists including Katie Gavin and the Japanese House. The album was long listed for the Polaris Prize, spent five weeks at #1 on the Canadian campus radio charts,and garnered press in The Guardian, NPR, Cosmopolitan, The Toronto Star, Billboard, Paste, The Line of Best Fit, Under the Radar, and CBC, to name a few. Larsen has shared stages with the likes of Buck Meek (Big Thief), Land of Talk, Dan Mangan, and Martha Wainwright, and recently performed at the Pitchfork London Music Festival

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Townie is an alt-country band hailing from both coasts of Canada. Born out of postcards and long distance phone calls between friends, the trio of songwriters collaborates and works with a prolific group of musicians across the country, featuring three insightful and unique voices, drawing influence from folk revival with a DIY ethos.

Presented by Nowadays and the Sanctuary Arts Centre