For singer-songwriter DiElle, Atlas isn’t just an album—it’s a heartfelt exploration of love, loss, self-discovery, and the transformative power of travel. Rooted in personal stories and universal truths, the record plays like a musical map, charting a journey that spans both miles and milestones. With her distinctive blend of indie pop, folk, and country influences, DiElle invites listeners into a world where every note carries emotional weight, and every lyric is a breadcrumb on a path toward deeper understanding. We sat down with DiElle to talk about the origins of Atlas, the life experiences that shaped it, and the soulful process of bringing the album to life—one song, one memory, one mile at a time.
Atlas seems to reflect a deeply personal journey. Can you tell us about the process behind writing this album and how it came to life?
Thank you – I think Atlas is the culmination of many experiences which have been incubating for most of my life. In a way, the idea came to me in a flash on a long train journey to the Scottish Highlands in March 2024, but those passions of travel, exploring and understanding where I end and social conditioning begins have been a lifetime in the making. Some of these threads began as a child, sitting at my Dad’s knee as a little dot listening to him tell stories about going to Australia by boat when he was 6. His family were ‘ £10 POHMs’, the nickname given to ex-pats who were encouraged to emigrate to Australia in the 50s. Can you imagine doing that trip, from the UK by boat at the age of 6? It captured his imagination for a lifetime and consequently mine. These things have been baking under my skin ever since I was a child, and I was very lucky to travel to some amazing places in my formative years. However, in practical terms, I’d taken myself off on a solo trip which I like to do from time to time, and gone on a songwriting day with Shelly Poole (Alisha’s Attic) and Paul Statham (Dido / Simple Minds) before heading to Comrie in the Highlands to go on retreat with a Buddhist Nun. I was gazing adoringly out the window having written ‘Wanderlust’ the day before, in love with travel and songwriting, and the idea for the whole album came in one thought. I spent the rest of the year writing, consciously choosing to spend the time on the songs, gig them a little, before recording, and then recorded them all Jan-March 2025.
You’ve mentioned that travel played a significant role in shaping Atlas. How did your travels inspire the themes of the album?
I always wanted to write a concept album, and I think this is my best effort so far! I wanted Atlas to feel like a journey in itself, so the songs are ordered in such a way that you’re daydreaming and setting off at the beginning (Wanderlust), having some amazing experiences (Wonder Of My World) and tribulations on the journey (True North), then turning home having grown a bit and learned some things about the world, life and yourself. I wanted it to be accessible so people could relate their own experiences to it, rather than it being a diary of all my specific journeys. Every big trip I’ve been on has had some soul-expanding experiences that have made me feel alive (Saffron Skies), some minor disaster that’s ended up being a funny story later on, moments when I want to just be on the move (Magic Carpet) and times I want to sit and digest it all (Put Down My Bags). I wanted each slice of the journey to have its own song, before we turn home (On My Way Home), show everyone the photos and reflect (Lessons Along The Way).
Your sound blends a variety of genres, including indie pop, folk, and country. How do you approach blending these elements in your music?
When I’m writing, I’m not consciously aiming to do that. I’m actually terrible with genres, which all evolve and influence each other anyway in my view. I call it ‘acoustic singersongwriter’ which to me has more leanings towards pop than folk at its core, but I’m happy for people to call it whatever they hear in it to be honest. For pleasure, I listen to artists that I would like to sit alongside and let that bake into my fabric, so when I’m writing I guess it comes out from having inspired my imagination rather than a conscious effort to emulate that. More from the soul than the head!
The album seems to explore themes of love, adventure, and self-discovery. Are there specific moments in your life that directly influenced these themes?
Absolutely. Love was always a tricky one for me. I got my heart broken at a very young age, just before I went off on my first big travel adventure. Some people around me seemed to solve that riddle really easily and it felt like a wrestling match to me. I’ve had some nasty break ups which can really tear a person down, and my sense of adventure always helped remind me who I was. It’s so much easier to be up a mountain in Ecuador than dealing with day-to-day life for me! When I was 18 I went to Sri Lanka with Project Trust for a year, nothing but a bag of clothes, a broken heart and a guitar in hand. It was incredible and my first experience of a pipedream becoming reality. And with no pubs or TV, a lot of time to reflect. I travelled for as long as I could get away with it after that, and everywhere I went I sent postcards to my grandparents. My Nan was the last one to pass, at the tender age of 100 and a half in July 2023. We were really close and I was involved with helping to care for her in the last years. When I felt lost she was always someone who would help me feel grounded again, and always so fiercely proud of me. I had the title True North, and every time I looked at those two words, all I could think of was her.
What is your songwriting process like? Do you typically write the music first, or do the lyrics come to you first?
There’s no hard and fast way, but often it starts with a feeling or a story that is then sparked by lyrics or lyrics and melody that come together. If I’m collaborating, I have a variety of approaches depending on who I’m working with. With Atlas, I already had written the single Atlas a year or two before. It was a line that I came up with in the shower actually ‘love is not on the atlas’, Wonder Of My World was actually for a pitch, so there was a brief, Magic Carpet was out of a co-write with David Vine, who I’d wanted to write another song with for the album. Just through conversation about my love of travel I’d told him that when I was a little girl I used to make up stories and draw maps where my characters would have adventures. He loved that image and the song was born from there. We made musical choices based on wanting it to sound exotic but also have some audience participation elements too for the live show. My Ordinary was the last one to be written, and I knew I wanted it to be upbeat, so I guess in that respect I had some musical ideas first. I tend to know almost straight away if I want to write solo or collaborate on an idea. I’ve learned where I don’t want to compromise and where two or three heads are better. Generally though, for a project like this I’ll get a notebook that ‘feels right’ and scribble in it – musical and lyrical ideas.
Atlas includes both intimate moments and more expansive sounds. How did you approach balancing these two elements in the recording process?
None of the productions are huge and that was a conscious choice. I wrote the album with solo performance in mind and I want to be able to represent the songs well on my own. There are moments when you want people stamping their feet, clapping and singing, and others when you want to draw them in with something quiet and sensitive. I spent the year writing and gigging the songs, then recorded them all together. So all the guitar parts were recorded over a couple of days to give a cohesive sound to the guitars. Then the rest of the arrangements I treated like a film score. I chose the suite of instruments and dipped into that palette alone. So there is one synth sound – it sounds totally different on the tracks it’s on, but it’s the same sound – the same percussion, the same piano sound, the same strings. So there’s a cohesive sound where the songs all feel like they belong together, even though individually they are very different.
You’ve worked with producer Chris Wood on Atlas. What was that collaboration like, and how did Chris help shape the album’s sound?
Chris and I have been recording and performing together since about 2015 and have worked on a variety of projects from theatre shows to film scores with Make A Scene Music. We are a real Yin Yang in many respects, and he brings a plethora of skills where I am lacking which makes for a great team, if you can communicate well. He’s neurotypical whereas I am neurodiverse which means he sees and hears things differently to me, and is much more technically minded than I am. Being a maestro bass player, he’s also King of Rhythm, so brings a great energy to the percussion and the awesome bass lines he played on several songs. He knew from the off that I wanted Atlas to feel contemporary but simple in instrumentation, so we chose each sound carefully and had to agree that it worked.
There’s a lot of emotional depth in your songs. How do you prepare yourself emotionally to perform these tracks live for your audience?
Most of the time, I’m fine. I want people to feel things and you have to give some of yourself to do that. I don’t think I’m an overly emotive performer to be honest, but being authentic is more important to me than acting, which is a good thing coz I can’t act to save my life. The only one I’m struggling with at the moment is True North. You might see me step back from the mic, take a few deep breaths and just play the intro round until I’ve centred myself again. If I’m going to tell a story about a song, I like to do that when I introduce it so people know while they’re listening, but if I do that with True North, I always crack during the song, which is a bridge too far for me. I’ve told it after a couple of times, and my audiences have been very kind. I played in a noisy cocktail bar in London Bridge recently with the shakers going and everything. I played the song, then told the story, and when I was talking about my Nan you could have heard a pin drop. I get a good feel for a room I think and I know how much people want to hear and how much they’re listening. If I’m getting too emotional I play videos of Olaf in my head and think about other happy thoughts. It’s not meant to be a sad song. I just miss her.
The album’s artwork and title seem to suggest a journey, both physical and emotional. How do you see Atlas representing where you are in your musical career?
I hope it’s not bragging to say that I think this is some of my best work. I made a commitment when my Nan passed away to keep working on my craft. There’s so much you can distract yourself with now – do I want to be a Tiktok star? Should I be trying to get my songs on Love Island? But I’m just pouring my energy into working on my songwriting craft, and I think Atlas is better for it. I had a clear idea that I wanted this to be a solo project, which is right because it is so personal. I’m still with the Trio but that is about harmony singing and the three of us together; I need that too. Atlas was about me returning to my roots, with the wisdom I have acquired thus far.
What do you hope listeners take away from Atlas after hearing it for the first time? What kind of connection are you hoping to create?
I would love people to send me videos of them singing Wanderlust or My Ordinary when they get on a plane to go on holiday! Haha! So far, listeners have said lovely things like, they can’t choose a favourite. I hope they feel uplifted and comforted and it leaves them feeling good. Live, I hope they join in, sing, dance, clap and stamp with me. I just want people to feel good listening to it and make the songs their own. I’m so grateful to all my audiences and listeners who have chosen to listen to my music when there are so many options out there. If you’re listening, know that I appreciate you!
