Brighton-based Bess Atwell is one of the finest singer/songwriters in the UK and her album ‘Light Sleeper’ is among the year’s best. She’ll be bringing magic to The Cluny when she appears there in early October.

When I first got into Bess Atwell, the hook for me was her voice. It’s one of those unflashy voices – no tonsil gymnastics for her – but her vocals are so pure and effortless and absolutely carry you to where she wants you to go. Honestly, she could sing a random bunch of tweets and make them sound weighty and meaningful. An alt-folky with a strong sense of an arresting melody, her latest album ‘Light Sleeper’, which came out in May, is a pastoral delight. It’s her third album and it benefits from having Aaron Dessner (of The National) on production duties. Needless to say, he brings the same sense of intimacyto proceedings that he brought to Taylor Swift’s ‘Folklore’ and ‘Evermore’. It’s a release that is wistful, maybe melancholic in places, but shot through with shafts of light, and I can’t wait to hear these songs live. JL

Bess Atwell, Sunday 6 October, The Cluny, Newcastle, 7.30pm, £17, thecluny.com