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Brighton-based artist Bess Atwell has released a new single ‘Something Now’ from her upcoming album ‘Light Sleeper’, set for release on 24th May.
Following on from recent singles ‘Fan Favourite’ and ‘Release Myself’, Atwell explains ‘the track ‘Something Now’ as a pivotal moment in embracing a wider range of emotions. “This track is a celebration of feeling, written in a moment of empowerment when I was tapering off antidepressants. I’m not anti-medication, but I realized I’d become frightened of my feelings and it signaled a change in me that I was prepared to feel a broader spectrum of emotion.”
The single delves deep into Atwell’s introspections, challenging past beliefs that she used as shields against emotional discomfort. “Opening myself up to emotional discomfort meant confronting beliefs I had developed to protect myself from it. At some point, probably at a very young age, I had decided that any suffering myself and my family had been through could be offset by becoming successful in my career. I could settle the score by turning pain into something beautiful and lucrative. ‘Something Now’ challenges the childlike idealism of this belief, and explores how it was just another form of avoidance and unwillingness to feel. It champions the idea that pain doesn’t take away from joy, if anything it adds to it,” Atwell elaborated.
Produced by Aaron Dessner of The National, ‘Light Sleeper’ is described by Atwell as an album about the “willingness to feel.”
“I was realising that somewhere along the line I had become very afraid of feeling,” she explains. “The record is about facing this realisation and finding the bravery to challenge it. It’s still hard for me to believe that I got to make this record with one of my heroes, but somehow, I got that lucky. Aaron Dessner posted about one of my songs on Instagram at the beginning of 2022. We got chatting on there and before I knew it, we’d made plans to meet up at All Points East and were discussing making a record together. He told me that Light Sleeper is the first album he’s worked on in several years that he didn’t write, which is a huge honour. My approach on Light Sleeper was to give up concern with what’s cool and to reconnect with why I make the things I make. I was afraid to really sing on my previous record, having come to believe it wasn’t cool or would draw attention to the fact that I am indeed an emotional woman and therefore not to be taken as seriously. This time, I wanted to really sing, I wanted to discuss my fears and feelings, I wanted to connect, and I wanted to perform like I meant it, because I do. After all, how can I write an album about the willingness to feel and be too afraid to sing like I mean it?”
Atwell is set to embark on a series of intimate live shows and a headline UK tour to promote ‘Light Sleeper’.
The dates in full read:
JUNE
6 Band On The Wall, Manchester, UK
7 Union Chapel, London, UK (SOLD OUT)
8 Thekla, Bristol, UK
25 Stadthalle w/ The National, Vienna, AT
27 Kunstirasen w/ The National, Bonn, DE
JULY
11 Edinburgh Castles w/ The National, Edinburgh, UK
OCTOBER
2 Arts Centre, Norwich, UK
3 Junction 2, Cambridge, UK
4 Rescue Rooms, Nottingham, UK
5 Belgrave Music Hall, Leeds, UK
6 The Cluny, Newcastle, UK
8 St. Luke’s, Glasgow, UK
9 Leaf, Liverpool, UK
11 The Black Box, Belfast, UK
12 The Grand Social, Dublin, IRE
15 Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff, UK
16 Hare & Hounds, Birmingham, UK
17 The Bullingdon, Oxford, UK
18 Concorde 2, Brighton, UK
FEBRUARY 2025
22 KOKO, London, UK
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