In Conversation With #174 - Grace Cummings
Melbourne-based singer, songwriter, producer and accomplished stage actor Grace Cummings started 2022 with the release of her second album ‘Storm Queen’.
True to its title, Storm Queen is a body of work with its own unruly climate, governed only by the visceral quality of Cummings’ spellbinding and devastating vocal presence, as heard on stage opening for the likes of Weyes Blood, Evan Dando, J Mascis and more. With most songs captured within the first few takes and featuring unexpected flourishes by Cummings’ peers in Melbourne, the album showcases a vast and volatile emotional landscape from one of the most captivating folk artists to enter the scene in years.
She took a moment to talk to us about how the album came together.
Hey there Grace - how are you? So your new album is finally here, how does it feel to have it out there in the world?
Hello! It is… It feels so good to finally have this album out in the world after a long lead up. I think it’s a great pay off from all the hard work and frustration in the pandemic over the last couple of years. I can’t wait to get out and start playing it to people.
So the album is called ‘Storm Queen’ - what is the meaning behind that?
There isn’t one specific reason as to why the album is called Storm Queen. I think that the more I think about it the more answers I have to that question. I think that the grandness of the name is all I was really looking for. Storm queen might be something God-like that reigns over the poetic majesty of nature or something… A God equally as punishing as it is forgiving and kind…
Where was it recorded? Any behind the scenes stories from the creative process you are willing to share with us?
Half of the album was recording with Jesse Williams at his home studio in Raglan street in Melbourne… The song Raglan on the album is a nod to times that I have had there. The other half was recorded with Paul Maybury at his big warehouse studio. My favourite part about the warehouse was recording the fiddle and the tambourine in the big concrete stairwell.
What are the key themes and influences on the album?
I suppose the more I listen to the album it is easier to see the “themes” of it. The big-ness of nature and the world we are living in… How it rules us and how we admire, care for, and destroy it.
Do you have a favorite lyric on the album? If so, which one and why?
Ummmmmmmm….. Let’s see…
“Nothing’s gonna catch fire, it’s a pretty green”
Maybe I like this because of the picture I see when I sing this… Something heavenly and perfectly pure.
Now the album is out there - what next for you?
Playing it to everyone that I can. It’s been a long time and I want to get out there and tour and do what I love the most.
