Night Beds

Event information

TeenCreeps present:
Night Beds
+ Support
The Hope, Brighton
14th April
£7 Adv
7:30pm


Welcome to the sound of Winston Yellen and Night Beds, who in one stunning ten-track debut
album Country Sleep, have shown that there is plenty of life left in the world of American music if
you have the voice, the songs and the gift to touch hearts and souls. Think of a space between Mark
Kozelek (Red House Painters/Sun Kil Moon), Gram Parsons and the dreamier side of My Morning
Jacket; a heavenly place of pure country soul, touched by an endearing innocence and honesty that
can only come from someone still in their early twenties.
From Colorado Springs, and now a resident of Nashville where he first moved to study, Yellen's road
to Country Sleep has been anything but the straightest and easiest. In 2006, he formed Night Beds
and self-released three rudimentary EPs between 2008 and 2011.
Waylaid by what Yellen's friend Nika States recalls as, "a lot of alcohol, and a lot of irreverent
tuning," he dropped out of college. After losing his job and girlfriend, and in the spirit of the country
classic 'Me & Bobby McGee' - "freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose" - Yellen took off
on a five-month sojourn. Moving from state to state, he lived out of his hatchback car performing
menial odd jobs and mopping Church floors until, he says, "a friend instilled in me the need to cut
the bullshit and move back to Nashville."
Taking out a loan, Yellen rented an out-of-town, pre-civil war home in the woods that was previously
owned by the late Johnny Cash and June Carter (and still maintained by the couple's friends).
Inspired by the serendipity of the discovery, he started working on Country Sleep, both in his country
retreat and back in civilisation at Nashville's Brown Owl studio.
Tapes of Country Sleep went out to family and friends, and a copy landed at Dead Oceans, who are
now releasing a 7-inch single of "Even If We Try" as a precursor to the album, which is slated for
release in early 2013.
Night Beds was conceived in a place that is usually just the domain of dreams. As Winston Yellen
explains, "the name is tongue in cheek, but a lot of the music was developed at night, from listening
to, or writing in my bed." And it feels very nocturnal. Night Beds is a landscape, or an ethereal
escape for the soul.
Country Sleep begins with just a voice, a high and tender lament, for 71 precious seconds; a spirit to
be reckoned with. Next up, a full band kicks up some dust behind a deliciously bittersweet melody.
After that, more beautiful crooning unfolds over a violin/guitar backdrop that keeps building until
the pace momentarily quickens to the sound of handclaps before a sudden, heart-aching fade.
The album concludes with "TENN", as in Tennessee, written the next day after the night before,
hungover and lost. Yellen admits the songs were often born out of, "destructive circumstances, and
many varied attempts to sedate myself."
Indeed, anyone listening to Country Sleep – whose title harks back to the 'night bed' in the back of
his car – will also find the record a cathartic experience.
Backed by various musicans and a careful ear for arrangement, Winston Yellen and Night Beds are
not here to simply sing you to sleep, but to soundtrack your hopes, fears and dreams.