Bess Atwell - 'Something Now'
Bess Atwell unveils the final preview single ‘Something Now’ ahead of new album ‘Light Sleeper’.
After finding huge support for her recent offerings of ‘Fan Favourite’ and ‘Release Myself’ in the past weeks, Brighton-based artist Bess Atwell continues the support for her next LP ‘Light Sleeper’ with the warming newest single, ‘Something Now’.
With its rich and emotive textures perfectly heightening her dazzling vocals once again, ‘Something Now’ adds another refined layer to her already immersive efforts of late. Building upon the shimmering presence of her recent releases to develop a warmer and more heartfelt direction, Bess Atwell continues to shine as one of the more tantalizing talents on the rise right now.
On the new single, ‘Something Now’, Bess Atwell says that this track is a celebration of feeling as it was written in a moment of empowerment when she was tapering off antidepressants. She continues, “I’m not anti-medication, but I realised I’d become frightened of my feelings and it signalled a change in me that I was prepared to feel a broader spectrum of emotion.”
Bess Atwell continues, “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 it explores how it was just another form of avoidance and unwillingness to feel as it champions the idea that pain does not take away joy, and if anything, it adds to it.
Produced by The National’s Aaron Dessner, who has produced tracks from Taylor Swift, Ben Howard, Sharon Van Etten and Ed Sheeran. The highly anticipated album ‘Light Sleeper’ looks to continue the warm and effervescent aesthetic Bess Atwell has been cultivating for herself in recent years.
Onto the upcoming album ‘Light Sleeper’, Bess Atwell says that the album is about the willingness to feel. “While writing the album, I was realising that somewhere along the line I had become very afraid of feeling. 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”. She continues that Aaron Dessner posted about one of her songs on Instagram at the beginning of 2022, and they got chatting on there and before Atwell knew it, they had 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.”
Atwell continues that she was afraid to sing on her previous record and “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?"
Fresh from supporting Ed Sheeran at the Royal Albert Hall, Atwell will play a series of intimate live shows in June including a sold-out London’s Union Chapel, Bristol’s Thekla and Manchester’s converted cinema venue Band on the Wall. These intimate surroundings should prove the ideal match for these exposing, quietly fearless songs of self-exploration. These shows will be followed by support slots for The National and a newly announced Uk headline tour in support of the album release.
Words by Bethany Simms
