“Without realising it at the start, I had begun to write an album that reflected how my life moves inexorably between dark and light. Some days I feel on top of the world, some days, even before I’ve opened my eyes, I know that I’m going to have to navigate the dark and battle to find my way to tomorrow. Most days I operate somewhere in between, like the dawn or the dusk, a place I’m glad to be because I kind of know where I am in those times. I know I’m not alone in operating between dark and light and in that I take comfort. I hope you can too.” – Ed Cosens
Ed Cosens announces his sophomore album Somewhere Between Dark And Light, to be released on 24th May 2024. Today, he shares new single Suckerpunch and announces UK live dates for May.
“Sometimes you find yourself in situations completely out of your control, the effects of which you just don’t see coming,” says Cosens, explaining the meaning of Suckerpunch. “Whether it’s your mental state, a relationship, or the consequences of a series of terrible decisions, sometimes the first response is to bury your head in the sand and sleep walk into a bad situation that could have been avoided. The issue is that even with your eyes open, you can’t always do anything about it. Which is worse?”
Suckerpunch is the second single to be taken from Somewhere Between Dark And Light. Earlier this year he released Doghouse, a song for anyone who has ever found themselves relegated to the couch. Before that he released last October’s stand alone single Black Dog on World Mental Health Day. “It’s about waking up and feeling in that dark place where you feel unable to function,” Cosens says. The song was completed at a songwriting retreat last summer hosted by the Buddy Holly Foundation. The setting for the retreat was a location that is special to him – Whitby, his old childhood holiday destination. “Whitby is a place that over the years I have felt able to get away and clear my head. Perhaps the synergy of that place and that moment helped bring the song to life.”
Somewhere Between Dark And Light offers an immediate variety of classic songwriting, delving into personal territory for inspiration. “‘In the light’ is probably the most representative track of the dark and light idea,” says Cosens. “‘When I’m Done Running’ and ‘I’m On Your Side’ “represent the lightest moments – those moments where I feel most positive and comforted by those around me.” The gently string-laced acoustic meditation ‘Little Boy’ talks of the titular character “sitting in the corner, doesn’t know what he wants to be… the little boy is me.” It is “the most personal song on the record,” and was partly inspired by the feelings of insecurity and self-doubt he says have always plagued him. “It’s like, ‘What is my place in all of this?’ I felt that sometimes being in Reverend and the Makers with characters like Jon, so loud and effervescent, I’d struggle to be heard. I’m the exact opposite, really, I’m very quiet, happy to sit at the back of the room.”
That might just be changing though, as Cosens explains that one of the reasons he’s felt the urge to strike out on his own is to make his mark under his own steam. “I’m really proud of what I achieved in the Makers,” he says, “but I suppose now I’d like my story to be told and heard.”
Teaming up with producer Dave Sanderson, with whom he has worked on multiple Reverend and The Makers albums, he says, “I have to give a good dollop of credit to Dave for guiding the song in the direction it went sonically and the feel it ended up with. He pushed me out of my comfort zone on the piano and this really made the song take shape. This is what I love about collaboration in the studio, the freedom to take things places you never would on your own.”
The new album addresses issues that have felt all too close to home in recent years. The pandemic led many of us to face up to the fragility of existence amid so many people succumbing to a disease with no cure, and Cosens, now a father to two boys, addresses what family means to him in the heart-on-sleeve piano ballad “Tiny Boxes”, which he pinpoints as one of his favourites on the record. “It’s a love song to my family,” he says.
Talking about the personal nature of these songs, Cosens explains, “These things stay with you sometimes and whilst at the time they may be difficult, at least they provide a rich seam of ideas and lyrics that can be mined at a later date! I hope they help start a conversation and spread mental health awareness further.”
Ed will be playing the following UK dates in May, with a string of summer festivals to be announced soon. Head to www.edcosens.com for more details.
LIVE DATES
Wed 8th May Jacaranda Liverpool
Fri 10th May The Castle Manchester
Thurs 16th May The Slaughtered Lamb London
Fri 17th May Albion Rooms Margate
Thurs 23rd May Oporto Leeds
Fri 24th May Leadmill Sheffield
Thurs 30th May Mosaic Tap Newcastle
Fri 31st May The Chapel Nottingham
About Ed Cosens
Ed Cosens is the long-time co-songwriter and chief lieutenant to Jon McClure in Reverend & The Makers, and former bandmate of Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner and Matt Helders. Now he has found his own voice as a singer of his own beautifully crafted, emotionally resonant songs that tap into the human condition with the skill of a seasoned balladeer.
Reverend & The Makers’ debut single, Heavyweight Champion Of The World, co-written by Cosens like much of the Makers’ material, went Top 10 in the UK and won the band a gold disc, and its accompanying debut album, The State Of Things, reached No. 5 in the album charts. Over the years that followed Reverend and the Makers ploughed a less conventional musical furrow that would veer ambitiously (and inimitably) across a broad musical landscape into more electronically influenced sounds, folk-rock territory and more recently, before this year’s Heatwave In The Cold North, a distinctly R&B and soul-flavoured sound, that earned the band their second top 10 UK album.
That seventh studio set was their first since 2017 and during their hiatus, Cosens saw long-harboured ambitions to launch a solo career finally bear fruit.
Cosens’ debut album, Fortune’s Favour, was released in 2021. Although delayed by the Covid pandemic, and not promoted as widely as intended due to lockdown restrictions, it gained good reviews in outlets such as Uncut (“redolent of a more innocent era of pop composition”) and guitar.com (“a captivating success”).
