Words: Phil Taylor
Photos: Lizzie Jones
Monday 07 October 2024
reading time: min, words
music Rescue Rooms
Stopping off on her Light Sleeper tour, Bess Atwell enthralled a well-filled Rescue Rooms with a precise but emotive set. With intense and ethereal sounds from Pem in support, it was a memorable evening...

I always love the moment of walking through Rescue Rooms' door and making that sudden transition from outside world into a full-on live music realm. Arriving a little late to the venue last Friday night, I was confronted by a sea of people standing to rapt attention and an almost motionless Pem on stage. The artist, a singer-songwriter from the southwest of England, was deep into her set, and intensely focused. I'd not heard her before and was really struck by her style of delivery: ethereal, intense but at the same time gentle; and also capable of real strength and purity when she raises the pitch and volume.
One song, awe, stood out to me in particular with its relative simplicity but very effective lyricism. Between the songs in her half-hour set, Pem became visibly relaxed, smiling and engaged – no barrier here – but back into the next song and she instantly immersed herself again. Her music explores some pretty deep themes, Pem making herself vulnerable, and Rescue Rooms felt like a good place to hear this: a space which is well used to hosting artists of all styles and usually draws respectful and broad-minded crowds (although some audience members further back could have done with hushing their chatter at times). Pem was a great choice for a support artist, and a popular one too judging by the positive comments I overheard and the number of people keen to speak to her at the merch stand.


Bess Atwell arrived bang on time after the change-over, preceded by the other four musicians who make up her band: Andy on guitar, fiddle and keys; Davey on bass;Jules on drums and horn; and Phoebe on keys. More on that extremely talented group of multi-instrumentalists later.
After approaching the microphone and visibly settling into 'the zone', Bess began Everyone Who’s Not In Love With You Is Wrong gently but with utter certainty. This is also the opener from her new album,Light Sleeper,and a very strong start to the set with its beautiful, subtle poetry. She melded the song intoRelease Myself, which built beautifully and sounded assured and liberated.
"I've only played The Bodega before, so this is a nice step-up I guess," Bess commented, smiling out at the crowd, before performing Spinning Sun: it's an intensely personal song but Bess seemed entirely at ease. After that, a song "about trying to make your parents laugh" (Sylvester) which was crisp and, again, confident.
So far the set had drawn entirely from Bess's new record – I've listened to it several times before and enjoyed it, but the live performance felt like a real elevation: songs which perhaps erred towards lower-energy now felt energised and reborn. There seemed to be a magical connection between Bess and her band. They're all obviously supremely skilled which meant the music came across tight and yet relaxed; well-rehearsed, but still with room for flexibility and a truly organic feel. Musicians often need to work out new arrangements for songs when translating them to a live setting, particularly endings, and those can sometimes feel a little contrived. But thanks to this band's skill, it all felt just right. This continued right through the set – I don't think there was a weak point.

Switching to an old Strat adorned with a pink ribbon, Co-opwas the first older song Bess performed – it's one of her best-known – but the vocal harmonies from Phoebe at the keyboard seemed to reveal hidden depths to the song. After that we heard another newer one (Something Now), and then a real mix of Bess Atwell eras as the set developed, demonstrating her changing styles which take in folk, dream pop and even some Americana influences.
Bess punctuated the set with short but pleasant monologues- one after (or before, depending on how you look at it) pretty much every song, which was great and kept up a very warm connection with the audience. A special moment came when she "sent the boys away" and performed Cherry Baby with Phoebe on keys; after the others returned, Bess introduced "an older song about family - how difficult it can be, but also how much love there is." That turned out to be Red Light Heaven, sounding twangy with hints of country.

Next we were treated to a rendition of one her newest singles,Where I Left Us,which was a real showcase for the five musicians' precision and care. InThe Weeping we heard Andy's fiddle really come into its own, lending superbly painful poignancy to the song as Bess's lyrics floated past. Those lyrics are really wonderful and contain some incredibly beautiful pieces of poetry.
Fan Favourite and Light Sleeper provided a superb end to the main part of Bess's set – and then she did something refreshing, telling us that she wanted more time to spend at chatting at the merch desk and so we should imagine the next two songs as the encore. I've noticed more bands doing this recently, dispensing with the rather overdone theatre of the false ending, walk off, walk back on ...
Time Comes in Roseswas the final song -I've always loved the way it starts apropos of nothing with "Anyway..." – a brilliant little touch which really sums up Bess Atwell's understated and quietly brilliant approach to her music.


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