After taking a break to release music, Jack Vallier is back with a new emotional single that shows that his return is going to be strong.
Insomnia is the first in a series of new singles this year from the much loved troubadour. The emotionally-charged track, which dropped ahead of World Sleep Day, sees Jack longing for sleep and for peace of mind after the end of a deep relationship.
Saying “I was in love with her / now I’ve got insomnia”. On a bed of finger-picked melodies, the track builds to an anthemic outro, lifted up on a dreamy soundscape of meditative harmonies. The accompanying video, directed by Oska Zaky, is soaked in hazy, memory-tinged visuals, it shows the late night processing of a breakup, with Vallier thinking back to the good and bad memories, before finally ending in acceptance, allowing him to drift off to sleep. During Jack’s short hiatus, he was hit with a diagnosis of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (M.E.), using this as inspiration he turned to songwriting as therapy to help overcome the mental and physical health issues relating to the illness. Speaking on how he approached this he says:
“I went into the studio with my favourite producer Freddy Häggstam after not sleeping for two days so naturally it was the best thing to write about on the day. Freddy really captured the emotion of the song in the production and I feel like it epitomises why I started to write songs – it’s like therapy for things I struggle with.”
To further cement the importance of songwriting to his life, Jack has announced the return of hosting a bi-monthly songwriting showcase night entitled ‘Show The Credits’. Already sold out, it takes place 4th April at The Camden Club. The night gives some of the best writers in music right now to give insight into their creative process and to spark conversations around songwriting. Jack will be joined by Sody, Lauren Aquilina, FJ Law and Sfven.
With his dark yet refreshingly honest take on pop music, Jack has amassed over 40 million streams on Spotify alone after turning heads with his first few EPs. After various syncs on shows such as Grey’s Anatomy and his track ‘Rebekah’ being featured on BBC Radio 1 as Tune of the Week, Jack then went on tour supporting Dermot Kennedy for over 40 shows across the UK and Europe.
Jack will be donating all Bandcamp proceeds from the track to Action For M.E. – a charity in the UK supporting people with M.E.
