Wendy Bevan inhabits some uneasy existential territory on “Sleepwalkers,” a haunting new track from her forthcoming album, Alone With The Unknown (Chiaroscuro)—a state in which time and experience are untethered.
“‘Sleepwalkers’ explores two sides of true: the old world that’s disappeared and the future that hasn’t arrived,” says Bevan, who was raised in London and now lives in Los Angeles. “We’re left somewhere, timeless and in between. Sometimes we become so lost in our own dreams that we don’t see the destruction they cause—or recognize that we may be disappearing from our own lives.”
Out September 18, Alone With The Unknown is the latest chapter in the Bevan’s ongoing collaboration with Duran Duran’s Nick Rhodes, who produced the LP. It pairs her evocative vocals with blankets of synthesizers, expansive electronic arrangements and a cinematic approach rooted in a multidisciplinary career spanning music, film, theater and performance art. A singer and violinist, Bevan is also an accomplished photographer and visual artist.
The persistent blurring of boundaries between disciplines that’s defined Bevan’s career has formed the foundation of a surreal visual and sonic world. It helps explain the dreamlike terrain of “Sleepwalkers,” a place where uncertainty carries consequences.
“The act of not choosing can be just as violent as a bull in a china shop,” says Bevan. “While we long for a place called home, we unconsciously fill the spaces between with our own self-destructive behaviors. Along the way, the sleepwalkers have also participated in their own disappearance.”
We’re proud to premiere Wendy Bevan’s “Sleepwalkers.”
—Hobart Rowland
