Panic Room duo Anne-Marie Helder and Jonathan Edwards will release their debut album as Luna Rossa on June 10.

The acoustic work is called Sleeping Pills & Lullabies, and it’s billed as an exploration of “fragile beauty.”

Edwards tells Prog: “The songs are a mixture of positive and negative. The idea with the title was to suggest two different ways of going to sleep: one benign and peaceful, and one suggesting a darker and possibly dangerous route. We chose that title because it symbolised for us the duality that’s present in the songs too.”

He cites two songs as examples of the contrasting approach. “Opening track The Dark Room is a cynical look at relationships. The idea of looking at photographs of a hopeful past, while knowing that time has taken that hope away, is pretty dark. Then Mad About You is much more positive; it’s about finding the reality of love beyond your initial fantasy image of a person you’re attracted to.”

Helder and Edwards wanted to explore their acoustic songwriting abilities in Luna Rossa. “We have very eclectic tastes and that certainly comes through in the way we write for Panic Room,” says Edwards. “We find that we sometimes write songs that are more in the singer-songwriter area than songs for a rock band. Some of them have made their way onto Panic Room albums, like Muse on Satellite, and Velvet & Stars on the last album, SKIN. But we thought it would be nice to just follow that path for a whole album.”

Sleeping Pills & Lullabies was recorded two years ago, but it took time for the duo to find space in their schedule to release it. Since then, it’s already paid dividends back to Panic Room. “One practical thing we learned is that we can write string arrangements,” Edwards explains. “Our success of doing that for the Luna Rossa album is what gave us the confidence to do that with SKIN for Panic Room.”

And he believes Helder’s voice is the element which will most stand out on the new record. “Each song has its own story to tell. One of Anne-Marie’s strengths is to approach each song individually and sing it in a unique way that fits tthat song and its lyrics. Knd of like method acting, but in song.”

Luna Rossa aim to tour at some point, while Edwards and Helder will appear with Panic Room over the summer, followed by recording work on the band’s fourth album in the autumn.

Find out more about Luna Rossa.

Sleeping Pills & Lullabies tracklist:

1. The Dark Room
2. Heart On My Sleeve
3. Mad About You
4. The Book Of Love
5. Scream At The Sky
6. Leaving For The Last Time
7. Fight Or Flight
8. La Clef
9. Rise Up
10. Cloud
11. Gasp