Big Blue EP

Bess Hildick-Smith, known by her stage name as Bess Atwell, grew up in the English countryside, one of four children to an eclectic family of artists, songwriters and doctors. In 2015, not long after dropping out of university, Atwell garnered the attention of major news outlets after a slew of showcases for The Great Escape Festival. The Independent and The Guardian were amongst those who were impressed by the artist's performances, describing her as "a promising folk poet of suppression and inner anxiety" and "a gifted singer-songwriter with a voice like slow, cool water". Atwell's former solo project has evolved into a full band sound soaked in four-part vocal harmony. Her new EP was recorded last summer at Soup Studios in East London with producer Giles Barrett (John Grant, Johnny Flynn, Goat Girl). Bess and her band worked on the arrangements in their hometown of Brighton before taking them into the studio for four ambitious days of tracking. Of the EP Bess says "I wanted to release a small project which would hopefully represent a refinement in my sound. The 5 tracks explore conflicting themes on identity, romanticism and reality"