Grace Gillespie - "The Child"

Photo by Sophie Greenidge

The latest single from Grace Gillespie is almost painfully quiet. "The Child" may have some folk elements, but it is far from a folk song. It starts out with some barely played acoustic guitar accompanying Gillespie's voice, which is just shy of being a whisper. The song is gorgeous with harmonizing vocals and impossibly soft instrumentation, even as it builds. At the end, "The Child" morphs into an electronic swirl that is as dreamlike as it could possibly be.

Grace Gillespie says if the new song: "I wrote 'The Child' to console myself in my 28th year on earth, this year. When I was born, my mother was 28 and some strange part of me thought that I would have a child aged 28, or at least hold some kind of significance to that year. It turns out that this particular year has brought with it the COVID-19 pandemic, Brexit, and my own personal discovery that I had become somewhat of an anxious wreck.

"I wrote the song as a reaction to this chain of thought: I don't want to close my eyes on the possibility of 'The Child' but I will let time decide and try to trust that things will change both globally and personally."

You can listen to "The Child" below. After the Harvest Moon, the upcoming EP from Grace Gillespie, will be out on November 27. For more on Grace Gillespie, check out her website.

Grace Gillespie · The Child

Grace Gillespie - "Empty in the Capital"

London's Grace Gillespie has released a beautiful folk-adjacent song. "Empty in the Capital" is a light and breezy sounding pop song that still has its roots in the world of folk/rock. This is in stark contrast to the bleak lyrics, which of course are going to be viewed through the lens of quarantine and a global pandemic.

Gillespie says of the song:

"I wrote my new song, 'Empty in the Capital' just before lockdown about themes that were coming up in my own life. 

Then suddenly, Covid is here and we are all sharing in my isolation, fear and frustrations. I don’t like London at the best of times and the idea of being stuck here was almost scary to me. 

The track very much follows the pattern of a day for me. Much of my time is spent trying to reassure myself through rationalizing and acceptance, heard in the song’s verses, coupled with outbursts of inward frustration that I express in the choruses.  

I think it’s a pattern we have all been through throughout lockdown. We are trying with all our hearts to make the most of this gift of time and be ‘grateful for the day’ but then realizing that we are sipping coffee and trying to create (or just get on with work) while ambulances are filing past. 

'Empty in the Capital' is a realization that this juxtaposition is at the heart of all of life. There is always suffering and we are always perfecting a way to stick our head in the sand just to survive, I suppose."

You can watch the video for "Empty in the Capital" below. For more on Grace Gillespie, check her out on Facebook and Twitter.