Grace Cummings has a devastating voice you need to hear to believe. Its power lies at the forefront of return single, Heaven.
Melbourne-based Grace Cummings is a singer, songwriter, stage actor, and instrumentalist of unfettered conviction. Although, after experiencing the ebbing sonic climate and minimalist music video for Heaven, none of these descriptors worthily capture the creative appeal of the artist.
Above all, Cummings is a performer, and Heaven is the potent material on the script.
A near lifelong musician, Cummings found her break with Flightless Records (founded by former King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard drummer Eric Moore), following lead acting at the Melbourne Theatre Company and stints as a rock drummer in high school bands.
Since her debut full length, Refuge Cove (2019), Cummings has found footing as a producer and arranger, enlisting a motley crew of Melbourne musos to embellish her minimalist sonic tendencies for anticipated sophomore, Storm Queen.
“I am who I am and I sound how I sound”, she comments, regarding her idiosyncratic recording and songwriting methods. “I’m not really interested in going in like some kind of magician to try and make it sound any different”.
This adamant vision cuts through immediately in lead single, Heaven. Woozy acoustic, fevered electrics, and pedal steel ebbs and flows between Cummings’ gutsy poetry: “There is no god, there is no king”, she sings, locking eyes with her audience and refusing to let go.
Matching the intoxicating sway of the sonics, the artist performs in the music video with an otherworldly stare. “I always have things very close to the surface – it’s actually harder for me to just exist in the normal world”, she admits.
Heaven falls under a rare umbrella of songs that seemingly poured out from a place far from earth. Like her inspirations (Bob Dylan, Paul Kelly), you begin to wonder as a listener how the hell this song even crystallised. If that isn’t the sign of a true creative and a kindred spirit, I’m not sure what is.
Storm Queen is out January 14th, 2022. Pre-order the album on vinyl here.
