another chai morning

New album single from Zoë Bestel. 23/05/2025

The first single from the anticipated third studio album from Zoë Bestel. Releases Friday 23rd May 2025 on all major streaming platforms.

Recorded and produced by Jamie Savage at Chem19, featuring Roo Geddes on fiddle and Luke Cunningham on piano.

‘another chai morning’; a song written in lockdown about the disappointing comfort of falling back on unhealthy crutches during a tumultuous period. A coping mechanism of cycling bad habits to ease a worried mind, but instead perpetuating a version the artist would imagine as a child they would not have aspired to be. Touching on the anxiety before starting a project, the mental obstacles of ‘preconceived limitations’ before even beginning, and the attempt to curb these thoughts by indulging to ‘ease the runaway train’.

About Zoë

Ethereal vocals, poignant melodies and stirring lyrics describes award winning nu-folk ‘ukulele musician, Zoë Bestel, hailed as one of the Scotland’s most fascinating young singer-songwriters. As well as numerous BBC radio and TV performances, Bestel has been invited to support acclaimed artists such as Martin Carthy, Martin Simpson, Paul Brady, Chris Wood, Bella Hardy, and Snow Patrol’s Nathan Connolly, as well as captivating audiences across Denmark, Germany, Finland, Norway, and the Czech Republic, with festival highlights including Orkney Folk Festival, Cambridge Folk Festival, and Celtic Connections.

Encouraged by the resurgence of ’70s folk, where lyrical stories and emotive music unite like-minded individuals at gatherings, Bestel aspires for her music to capture this spirit, inspiring listeners to connect with nature, and deepen their roots in the present. Her live performances create immersive experiences that explore beyond the typical confines of the folk genre drawing heavily on Bestel’s rural childhood in Dumfries & Galloway, entwined with occasional metaphorical political lyricism.

Audiences are fast catching up with the fact that, in Bestel’s hands, the ukulele shrugs off its stereotypical comedy baggage and becomes the instrument of choice for one of Scotland’s most fascinating young singer-songwriters.

Alan Morrison, The National