Actress, writer, filmmaker and comedian Noël Wells has released the first single taken from her forthcoming debut album titled “Sunrise.” Streaming now, “Sunrise” was the first song written for the upcoming full-length, composed on a guitar Wells picked up in an AirBnB she was staying at in Austin, TX while she was shooting a film.
“’Sunrise’ is about the world we are in being completely upside down,” she says of the track. “We are all marching off to get things done, feeding ourselves into a system while we put our blinders up to what’s really happening, humming to tune it all out…”
The irony that is painted is complimented by the orchestration, a twisted and sexy pop tune that wears its existentialism like a summer day. “This song is like if John Lennon had a daughter that got kidnapped by aliens who turned her into a Japanese robot programmed to be a pop star that kills.”
After spending a season on Saturday Night Live, appearing as the love interest on Master of None, and writing, directing, and starring in the award winning indie feature Mr. Roosevelt, Noël Wells wasn’t satisfied creatively. So in 2016, after experiencing career upsets, heartbreak, and the psychological aftermath of the election, she went from listening to music to writing music. She bought an acoustic guitar and started taking lessons, and she soon found comfort in the songs that were now pouring out of her.
From there, she began to work closely with producer Chris Nelson and engineer Branden Stroup who turned her melancholic folk tunes with flashes of dark humor into vibrant and catchy songs. “I honestly thought I was going to make an album of moody ‘Sad Girl’ songs,” she says. “And while the songs still retain that, now they’re also really fun. You can listen and cry and smash shit or dance to them and have sex…” The songs range from stories about love, loss, desire for autonomy and existential anxiety to her relationship around being a woman in today’s world.
“At the end of the day, I didn’t want to bum people out,” she continues. “But I do want them to know all the heavy stuff I see and feel, and also that I have a lot of hope that it’s going to be alright.”
Stay tuned for more information, news and music from Wells’ forthcoming debut in the coming weeks and months.