PICTISH Trail and Meursault will headline the second edition of Southern Exposure, the festival presented by the highly-acclaimed Nothing Ever Happens Here live music programme at Summerhall in Edinburgh.

The colourful party vibes of Pictish Trail – aka Lost Map Records captain Johnny Lynch – will close the first night of the event, which takes place on Friday and Saturday, June 21 and 22.

Meursault, the local legends headed by Neil Pennycook, launching their new album, Crow Hill, the following evening.

Other acts to feature in the Scots-heavy line-up include Perth-raised musician Savage Mansion, Callum Easter and Rev Magnetic, each of whom will be play from their debut albums, and SHHE, the dazzling new solo project from Su Shaw, fresh from a tour opening for Kathryn Joseph.

Bringing dollops of fresh pop to the event will be Glasgow’s Bossy Love, Carla J Easton and Be Charlotte aka Charlotte Bremner, the rising Dundee artist who recently supported Tom Walker at the Barrowlands following the success of his number one album What a Time To Be Alive.

Do Not Disturb, Be Charlotte’s debut single for major label Columbia Records, is an infectious, fizzy step-up for the young musician, and deserves to be a hit.

Bremner is the only artist returning to Southern Exposure after playing last year as part of a week-long live event at Summerhall held in conjunction with the National Museum of Scotland’s Rip It Up exhibition, a landmark celebration of the history of Scottish rock and pop.

“Her set last year was absolutely brilliant,” says Jamie Sutherland, founder of Nothing Ever Happens Here and front man of Broken Records. “I don’t know what Charlotte wants to be considered as, but she has that element of fun, as do Bossy Love and Carla.

It was important to us to have that poppier edge so things weren’t relentlessly indie to a certain extent.”

Depending on who’s making it, relentless indie is very often no bad thing, but some local residents had obviously had enough of Idlewild’s glorious clatter when noise complaints forced the outdoor gig inside.

“We put a lot of production behind it last year,” Sutherland says. “We were collaborating with the Edinburgh International Film Festival, Synergy Concerts and our own beer festival. We had Big Country and The Skids play one night and wanted a set-piece for the opening of the Rip It Up festival – which Southern Exposure has become now – with Idlewild playing in the courtyard.

“It turned out some people in the local area weren’t ready for us to do that.”

The live music was moved into Summerhall’s concert space the Dissection Room last year, with the outdoor courtyard being used as a break-out space for food, drink and socialising. It worked well, Sutherland says, and Southern Exposure will have the same set-up next month.

“We were quite happy to move everything and it worked really well,” he said. “We have this great beer garden, we have all this capacity to put on a festival, all this infrastructure.

“We also have this great room where we can put on dedicated headline shows with all the lights and production behind it and then after 40 minutes people come down into the courtyard, maybe have a couple of beers, chose which bands they want to see.”

Familiar to older fans will be Piroshka, who make their Scottish live debut at Southern Exposure. Fronted by former Lush vocalist/guitarist Miki Berenyi and also featuring former Moose guitarist KJ “Moose” McKillop, Modern English bassist Mick Conroy and former Elastica drummer Justin Welch, their euphoric debut album Brickbat has been exciting critics and DJs across the UK.

“It was a bit of a no-brainer asking Piroshka,” says Sutherland. “Not just based on the legacy of the bands they’ve all been in, but also as a new act in themselves. The album is fantastic, it really stands up, and it was important we got a band that wasn’t Scottish to add to the bill.”

Opening the festival on Friday and Saturday respectively will be local musician Harry Harris and Little King, aka Glasgow-based musician Matt Regan, both recipients of Summerhall’s inaugural associate artist scheme for musicians.

“We put a call out last year for artists to submit some music and we’d take on two associate acts and offer them free rehearsal space and a set-piece event at the end of the year,” Sutherland said. “When we did a headline show with the two of them, they showed they’re both really mature songwriters with lots of songcraft. Harry has already used Summerhall as rehearsal space before going off on a tour and I think Little King is going to use the space before going in to the studio to record.”

Regan attracted acclaim at the 2016 Fringe for Greater Belfast, a theatre show exploring his home city through music and spoken word. Sutherland says Regan has recently been focusing on making music as Little King, though his Southern Exposure appearance may have a theatrical element to it.

With weekend tickets at £25, that’s just over £2 per act.

“It shouldn’t be a luxury or special occasion to see art,” Sutherland says. “Nobody has any money at the moment, but this shouldn’t be the first thing to go. Entertaining people after a hard week’s work is something we take seriously and it shouldn’t break the bank.”

June 21 and 22, Summerhall, Edinburgh, Jun 21 6pm to 1am £17, Jun 22 2pm to 10pm, £18, £25 weekend. Tel: 0131 560 1580.

www.summerhall.co.uk