Gracie Gray decodes interplanetary romance with “alienlover” - (3/26/2021)
Gracie Gray, photo by Cashmere Studio
Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Gracie Gray shares her newest single “alienlover” via Trailing Twelve Records.
Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Gracie Gray releases her first single of the decade “alienlover” on March 26th, 2021 via Trailing Twelve Records. Having previously released the polished dream-folk EP “Black Clothes” and emotionally raw full-length “Oregon in a Day”, Gray is no stranger to writing and recording her own material. While the covid-induced quarantine has hindered the creative process for many solo artists, Gray took the opportunity to complete a new collection of songs. Acting as an entry point to this new material, “alienlover” follows the theme of separation from her previous LP while shifting to a heavier sound, and a more experimental, elaborate approach to production.
The making of “alienlover” began in February of 2020 after attending a show a The Satellite in Los Angeles. As Gray tells it “my friend Cam was there, and we watched the sets. That night, I had a dream that I was back at the Satellite, sitting at a table with Cam, and he said “wait listen, the DJ is playing your song” and I listened, and I heard my voice singing this song. Immediately knowing it was a dream, I began to wake up. I caught the song for long enough though, and immediately opened my voice memos and recorded every bit I heard in my dream.” After laying out the blueprint, Gray recruited her friend Mikey DeLuccia to track live drums and synths. In true DIY nature, Gray took on the challenge of mixing the song herself, ultimately enlisting some fresh ears courtesy of Jacob Williams to fine-tune everything.
At the onset of “alienlover” we’re met with a droplet of Gray’s ethereal vocal suddenly sitting beneath a voice-memo. The voice recording is her brother, Jeremiah Gray, describing a spirit that led him through his house. An appropriate intro to a song that was directly conjured from a dream. Immediately following the voice-memo, Gray’s effortless tone drifts atop intimate production.
I have thought if you were a plant / I’d burn something else instead / Water runs over all the ants / I’ll learn something else instead.
There is a point in which Gray’s vocal refrain seamlessly blends with a UFO-like synth line, as though for a moment the two voices are speaking to each other. Gray elaborates on the song’s intergalactic premise, establishing that it’s based on the idea of an alien falling in love with a woman, but knowing it cannot be with her. “It watches her life on earth from above, sending her signs of its presence. The alien communicates its adoration for her by sending down art for artists to see in their mind and create, whether it be a song, dance, painting, etc. The woman experiences certain art throughout her life and knows it’s for her. She feels loved and seen, but isn’t sure how or why,” says Gray.
Diving deeper into the songwriting process and intention of the release, Gray shares that she felt like the majority of the song was finished before she even started writing it. “I barely wrote [alienlover] consciously, which led to a lot of thought about how many artists think that some songs were already there in the room when they wrote them down. I do believe that some songs are similar to living organisms that we create, share with the world, and then they live longer than us, being with people in moments and places we could never,” says Gray.
“It had me feeling that in certain cases it’s not about the creator at all, and they’re just painting a picture that already existed before they noticed it. That’s what writing this felt like.”
Serving as a three-minute ode to interplanetary love, Gracie Gray’s newest entry is full of emotional depth, sonic maturity, and poetic songwriting.
“allienlover” will be available on March 26th via Trailing Twelve.
Written by Anna Grace Gray
Produced and recorded by Gracie Gray in her bedroom in Highland Park, CA
Mixed by Gracie Gray and Jacob Williams
Vocals, guitars, bass guitar, keyboard, synth, organ, piano, percussion performed by Gracie
Drums and engineering for drums, synths, organ by Michael DeLuccia
Intro dream talk by Jeremiah Gray
Mastered by Daniel Eaton at Little Castle Mastering
TTRS048
© & ℗ 2021 Trailing Twelve Records. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized Copying, Reproduction, Hiring, Lending, Public Performance, And Broadcasting Strictly Prohibited.
GRACIE GRAY - alienlover
TTRS048
Releases 26 March 2021
Length: 03:13
BIO
Gracie Gray is an LA based singer, songwriter, and performer. She began her solo project while studying classical voice, touring, and working as a studio singer and songwriter. Gray’s songs have been described as spectral spells, putting the listener into a heartfelt and dreamlike trance. Their commanding yet delicate vocal has captivated live audiences as displayed in various performances including Sofar Sounds.
“Oregon in a Day”, Gray’s debut LP, received critical acclaim from publications including LA Weekly, IMPOSE, and High Clouds, garnering comparisons to ‘90s mainstays Mazzy Star and Big Thief’s Adrianne Lenker.
Gray was raised in Los Angeles as the middle child of four siblings. She was homeschooled before college and began touring with a band while attending the Bob Cole Conservatory for a classical voice degree in 2016. Her solo project emerged with her bandmates’ encouragement. She left school before graduating and recorded her first EP “Black Clothes” at Revolver Recordings in Thousand Oaks with producers Jacob Williams and Mikal Blue. Gray was beginning to set the pace for her visceral and honest songwriting with tracks like “Space” and “G I Wish U”
After touring her EP, Gray began to record her follow up album “Oregon in a Day.” It abandons clean- sounding studio gear for the raw intention and emotion of a bedroom-recorded album. Having produced and mixed most of it herself, each decision is reflective of her priorities: the songwriting and execution. Wanting to convey silence after loss, the opening track has notably sparse instrumentation leading to refrain “everyone’s gone away.” The following track, “Dreams Overwhelm Me” speaks of how the heart takes time to detach from past relationships and how that resurfaces in our dreams. The pocket groove “Holding Up A Candle” uses lo-fi guitar and layered vocals to convey the exhausting lull of repressed anger, tied together with the ending lyric “sometimes I feel angry, I fall asleep but I can’t scream.” The sixth track “Morphine” takes a step back from personal experience and offers perspective. It is an ode to the person we all know that is passionately in the dark or light, always chasing some kind of dream with the line “you take it way too far, so no one’s love will ever reach you.” As Gray’s first full length album, Oregon in a Day is a bold “hello” to the world as an artist and producer.
Knowing how to record in her bedroom proved helpful in 2020, as it allowed her to continue her project during quarantine and complete a new collection of songs. As her first release in almost two years, “alienlover” follows the theme of separation in her last record while shifting to a heavier sound, and a more experimental, elaborate approach to production.