Saturday 14/07/07 Day 2 @ Latitude Festival, Henham Park, Suffolk

If you go down to the woods today you're sure to meet a gorgeous woodland blonde nymph in the guise of Stephanie Dosen on the Sunrise Arena with her starlit melodies 'This Joy' and 'Vinalhaven Harbour' with cello and violin augmentation providing lilting moments for the woodfolk. Dressed all in cherry red and with tales of the boys poop when travelling with Midlake, the sultry songstress tells tales on a wayward band member who's appetite was for bananas, skins and all. Until his arrest in a dry state that is. An acoustic start to the day from a woman who's supporting Nancie Griffiths currently and wooing many, and with 'Only Getting Better', 'Owl In The Dark' and the title track from her debut 'Lily For The Spectre' we're drawn by the delicacy and passion of her ethereal voice. Unfortunately, 'Lakes Of Canada' remaining bagged cos it's not her song.

Passengers keep the woods to the nature spirits with an impish male lead vocalist and tunes varying between a record at the wrong speed, such are the vocals, and at times rockier with funky acoustic-folk revealing a band with conviction. Top opening tunes from Make Model have an earmark on their page as the next My Latest Novel, when My Latest Novel get the deserved recognition. With shades of Belle and Sebastian in song and an indie-rock sensibility hinting at XTC - "...I've got a message for you...".

Swedish act Loney, Dear had already generated a certain amount of interest from the assured ears of Bella Union's Simon Raymonde - and did they deliver? With winsome organs and cellos.

Obelisk Arena featured the medieval sonic wonders of Bat For Lashes with Natasha Khan dressed in a black costume with white bones painted belying her nursery school teacher playfulness and the opener 'Trophy' with "...heaven is a feeling I get/ in your arms..." like a happier P.J. Harvey yet with a broody weight, and Tori Amos-like 'Horse And I' with its melodic harpsichord going do-lally and Natasha's voice stretched making for one special performance here in the open air. Sounding like Siouxie Sue, 'Sarah' cuts a tune of powerful feminine identity - "...Sarah/ I want to be like you..." as Natasha pounds a stick to the stage for a shamanic tune, closing with 'Prescilla' and a performance more closely allied to theatre than just music.

Pints in - the great pub-garage-rock band The Hold Steady rock the afternoon along with Tom Petty/The Band good time rock and roll with just a touch of Bruce thrown in for good measure to keep the Latitude afternoon Obelisk stage chocked full.