FEATURE: Spotlight: Bess Atwell — Music Musings & Such

FEATURE:

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Sequoia Ziff

Bess Atwell

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I thought that I had already…

included Bess Atwell in my Spotlight feature. It appears not! This is another case of me highlighting an artist who has been around for a while but it is a case of some people not being aware of her music. I think this feature is timely, as Atwell recently released the single, Co-op. There is talk around a sophomore album/more material. Atwell released the E.P., Big Blue, in 2019. Back in 2016, she released her amazing debut album, Hold Your Mind. I want to bring in an interview from around that time – before moving more up-to-date. First, I would urge people to check out an amazing album:

“Bess Atwell's songs are written far from city lights, in the South Downs communities where she's lived for most of her 21 years. But in her debut album, Hold Your Mind, local folk and singer-songwriter traditions meet a pop sensibility. Produced by Michael Smith (12 Dirty Bullets), observations on identity, self-dismay and claustrophobic social media combine intimacy with rock hooks and gauzier, more expansive atmospheres. Timeless in essence, her songs are solid with modern detail, and a sure sense of place: strong foundations for a subtly fresh new songwriter. Atwell has honed her live craft around London and Sussex, regularly appearing at Soho's much missed musical hothouse the 12-Bar Club, and at annual appearances at Brighton's Alternative Great Escape. An intimate, direct performer with access to deep wells of suppression and doubt, her album's fuller sound is stripped to its essence in person. Atwell's songs find her version of the universal in concrete, domestic moments: a light in the kitchen, a key in the door, catching the train, and the delicate, sensual nostalgia of recalling the pale, close bodies of an affair. "Quiet, countryside places are where I see myself and my music," she says. "Not the city, where it's busy and things are happening right now. My songs need that moment of stepping away, and reflecting." Bess Atwell is a breath of fresh Downland air, confronting 21st century concerns with older wisdom. Already tipped by the Guardian, press is by 9PR and reviews are expected in all kep papers”.

I want to end by bringing in a recent interview where Atwell talks about Co-op and what she has planned for the rest of this year. I think Hold Your Mind is a really strong and interesting debut album. When she spoke with Impose, we discovered more about her younger life and what she wants people to get from her music:

“Your family moved around quite a bit when you were younger. Where are you originally from? And how do you think the constant moving shaped your music?

I was born in London, but grew up in a village in Cambridgeshire. I started writing songs by the time my family had pretty much settled down, in a small village outside of Brighton. However, the yearning for belonging was still with me, and I found comfort in the consistency of creating, whether that be art or music. I’m not sure it had a profound impact on my music, but the idea of home features heavily in the tracks on the album so who knows!

How would you describe your music? How do you want people to react or feel when they listen to it?

There’s a lot of domestic imagery in the songs because I wanted to ground universal, yet intangible, human emotion to the mundane, physical world. I try not to focus on how I’d like people to react to the music when writing, but when the songs are done it would be wonderful to feel everyone can relate in some way and that they could help connect us a little. Celebrating the human condition rather than shying from it.

Your debut album Hold Your Mind is out this month. What do you have to say about the process of writing and recording it?

There were a couple of years during my teens where I found myself almost incapable of writing anything coherent about the experiences I was having – specifically in regards to my family life. The oldest song on the album is one of the few I finished from this time; ‘Resolution’ which deals with that disjointed feeling.

It wasn’t until my first heartbreak at 19 that my emotions surfaced enough for me to start enjoying songwriting again, and finding comfort in it. During this time it felt as though the songs were just coming to me, rather than me forcing them. So a lot of the songs on the album are from that experience, and came very easily. That experience broke my writer’s block and paved the way for me to write about different experiences too.

The recording of the album was a massive learning curve. It was weird for me to be, ultimately, in charge of a group of talented, trained musicians (the band I recorded with) and it took a while to embrace the responsibility for the sound of the album. We recorded most of the album in the studio in London, with the band, and those sessions were a lot of fun. My producer, Michael Smith, and I also had a few sessions out in the countryside where I live, when we simplified things and reconnected with the album sonically.

What are you most excited about with this release?

It sounds obvious, but people actually hearing the songs. I’m not really going into the release with any particular goal or expectation. I wrote these songs about my life, and the most I could ask for is that someone hears them and feels connected to my experiences too. I hope everyone can relate to the songs on some level”.

Although Bess Atwell is a unique artist and one cannot easily associate her with another artist, I was interested to know whether there were any other artists who inspired her. In 2019, Atwell spoke with Alt. Revue and was asked that very question:

“Could you walk us through your process of writing music?

Lots of artists say it, but it’s true; my best songs are written very quickly and just sort of pour out. The songs I labour over the most are almost always my least favourite.

Recently I’ve been writing with a drum machine which I find helps me to avoid slipping into repetitive rhythms. I tend to start with a chord sequence and then write melody and lyrics simultaneously. I’ll always neaten up the lyrics after because the first attempt isn’t particularly poetic.

What artists have inspired you in your career?

Johnny Flynn, Gillian Welch, The Beach Boys to name a few. As a teenager I listened to almost exclusively indie rock bands (Beach House, Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, The National).

Currently I’m listening to a lot of solo artists - I used to avoid listening to other female, indie artists in fear that I’d end up sounding exactly like them and render myself useless but I realised I was missing out on so much incredible music. Julia Jacklin’s new record has blown me away, as well as albums from Soccer Mommy, Stella Donnelly, and Phoebe Bridgers.

Can you describe the vibe at your live shows? Also, what do you enjoy most about a venue when you do a show?

I’d say the vibe is.. moody? I try and come across as approachable on stage but the songs are a little dark so sometimes you just have to roll with it. I’m not super talkative when I’m up there but I don’t stress about it anymore. Sometimes all you can do is play your songs well and be appreciative.

I really enjoy the moment after sound checking when you can just wander around an empty venue with a cup of tea knowing that it’ll (hopefully) be full in a couple of hours. It’s the only moment you get to chill out if you’ve been travelling all day”.

This brings us up to 2021. I wonder whether there will be an album later in the year. Whilst there has been no official announcement, new songs like Co-op clearly point towards a larger project. I will end by bringing in an interview with Wonderland. They focused on Atwell’s acclaimed new single and asked what comes next:

“With us getting a taster of spring the past weekend, singer-songwriter Bess Atwell is keeping the momentum going with her dreamy new single “Co-op”. Like the first blooms of spring, Atwell’s latest single unfolds with serene ripples of guitar strings surrounded by her lush calming vocals, leading us to a track that has us reminiscent of Lana Del Rey and Phoebe Bridgers. Similar to her previous offerings, the track maintains the same fresh and unique sound she has displayed throughout her career. Accompanied by a self-directed video, the singer puts the emotional context of the track at the forefront, directly referencing the lyrics with bold imagery and contrasting props.

Opening up on the single, the singer revealed, “It’s an illustration of mine and my partner’s life together. The relationship seemed to provide me with some sort of permission to recuperate from family trauma, as if realising for the first time that there was a life outside of that chaos lulled me into an emotional slumber. Through the song, I grapple with the desire for, and fear of, comfort. I used references to Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway to depict a vivid nostalgia and an affinity for trivialities that serve to calm when darker thoughts set it.”

Releasing the single under her new home at Lucy Rose’s Real Kind Records, the singer is ready to take her sound into a new era, and we caught up with her talking the signing, developing her music and what we can expect in the future from the singer.

Hi Bess – how have you been during this uncertain time? How has it impacted your music and creativity?

All in all, I’ve been okay. When I can’t change things I go to a relatively calm place, which is as much a surprise to me as it is to those who know me. It’s definitely forced me to confront some ugly parts of myself though, like my chronic impatience… which is particularly tricky when you’re trying to put a record out!

I write from my own experiences mostly, which is tough when most days look the same. When the first lockdown happened I was living with my parents to save on rent while I was meant to be on tour. I’m incredibly privileged that I got to save money when so many were struggling financially, but on a personal note it was a challenge that ended up fuelling my writing.

Congratulations on your new song “Co-op” which explores your life with your partner – what was it inspired by in particular?

Thanks! The song started off as a bit of a private joke. We lived together in a tiny boxy room within a shared house for a year. It was meant to be temporary while I found somewhere to live but we got quite comfortable. The house was above a pizza shop and directly opposite a Co-op. It was a time of refuge and routine. Not feeling particularly comforted and safe with my own family, and in the midst of dealing with an anxiety disorder, I attached a sense of security to that house and that relationship. The song is both a celebration and criticism of that time. We had a running joke that we couldn’t go to the shop without getting whatever song was playing stuck in our heads. One night, I walked through the door humming and he did the usual “did you even go to the Co-op if you don’t come back singing the pop song that was on?” and I told him I’d write that into a song one day.

How does it feel releasing new music when most of the world is in lockdown/everything feels so uncertain – what do you hope your music will bring?

Well, here in the UK we’ve just been given a date – 21st June for what people are calling our “pandemic independence”. There’s hopefulness in the air, so it feels like a nice time to release music. On a base level, I hope they just enjoy the music. Other than that, I’d love for people to relate to the lyrics and to find a universality in the specific. It’s all about connection and the easing of existential loneliness, for me.

What’s next for you? What are you looking forward to in 2021?

Imminently, I’m going to go and make some bread. That’s been my lockdown “thing” once I realised I probably shouldn’t eat a cake to myself every day. This year is going to be full of releases from me which is really exciting after sitting on this new music for so long. If the world allows, I’ll be touring in the autumn too. I also recently got a kitten so I’m looking forward to my first year with her”.

I am looking ahead to see what might come next for Bess Atwell. She is an artist I have been listening to for a while and, with everything she releases, one hears this quality and longevity! I hope that she does get to tour later in the year. I know that many people will…