Brighton-based artist Bess Atwell will return with her new album Light Sleeper on May 24th via Real Kind Records. Atwell previously shared lead single “The Weeping” and has since followed it up with “Release Myself.”
The record was produced by The National’s Aaron Dressner, and just like on “The Weeping”, his flourishes and fingerprints are all over “Release Myself” a song about the willingness to feel. It’s a big broad confident blend of magnetic folk rock with Atwell’s now-trademark emotive nature and powerhouse delivery that feels larger-than-life yet also very much intimate.
Detailing the song, Atwell adds:
“Light Sleeper 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. 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?”
Enjoy a listen to “Release Myself” below.
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