Gig review: Bess Atwell at Rescue Rooms, with Pem

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 into Release 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-op was 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. In The 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 Roses was 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.