[Cover photo credit to Chris Frisina]
North Carolina-based Indie singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Chessa Rich has announced her debut album Deeper Sleeper, out April 7th, 2023 via Sleepy Cat Records. Along with the announcement, Rich shares the first single “Sleeping is Easier” and its summery official video. Though the track starts off gently, it builds to a cathartic crescendo confronting and overcoming a feeling of defeat.
Rich comments:
I wrote ‘Sleeping is Easier’ during a period of being really mad at myself for things that I now know are essential pieces of me. I remember feeling defeated and telling a friend, ‘sleeping is just easier’ and the desolation of that statement hitting me right in the chest. I was tired all the time and just couldn’t get a hold on life, so I kind of ended up yelling at myself and comforting myself all in the same song. It’s funny to reflect on the song now that I know I was dealing with undiagnosed sleep apnea.
Much of the album revolves around Rich’s experience dealing with this undiagnosed sleep disorder, with each track reflecting a different aspect of her relationship with sleeping and dreaming. Through writing and creating this record, she was able to “step outside” the situation and reconnect with others.
Rich recorded the album at New York’s Milan Hill Studios with Saman Khoujinian, Joseph Terrell (Mipso), Alex Bingham (Hiss Golden Messenger, Beth Orton), Jay Hammond and Shane Leonard, who also Produced and mixed.
Tracing her lines of influence from her parents’ community Jazz band to the moment she encountered Radiohead in her youth, Rich has recorded and performed with various North Carolina artists such as Hiss Golden Messenger and Tift Merritt, as well as having released a 2018 EP produced by Nick Sanborn of Sylvan Esso.
