Five Favourites: GRANT

Following 2018’s album In Bloom, Swedish artist GRANT has now returned to grace our ears with new single ‘Words’. Oozing a raw emotion and shimmering musicality, it’s a heartfelt slice of enchanting alt-pop.

We think one of the best ways to get to know an artist is by asking what music inspires them or influences their writing. We caught up with GRANT to find out her “Five Favourites” – five albums that she’s found particularly influential. Check out her choices below, and make sure you watch the new video for ‘Words’ below.

4 Non Blondes – Bigger, Better, Faster, More!
This was my own very first CD, that my sister gave me when I was about eight. I learned how to sing belting along with Linda Perry. This album falls somewhere in rock n’roll land, with a touch of Linda Perry’s pop genius, and  listening to it felt like a roller coaster through a wicked landscape. I highly recommend that you listen to the Linda Perry episode of the Broken Record Podcast!

Björk – Debut / Post / Homogenic
This is my holy trinity, and I honestly didn’t know which of Björk’s albums to choose; each of these three have inspired me immensely. I love the unexpected dynamics and how in each delicious song she unfolds like an adventure so naturally.

Nina Simone – Wild Is The Wind
The first time I heard Nina Simone, she sang of experiences I’d never lived in a language I didn’t understand yet, but I felt so much. It was kinda heavy but also beautiful. Never has an artist expanded my world view like she did. I want to make music that makes someone young feel like that. 

Portishead – Dummy
I must’ve listened to this album more than a thousand times. When I first discovered trip-hop I thought it was the most ultimate genre, simply because it was genre-bending and contradictory (gloomy yet playful, soft and hard), and I still hold this to be true. Even though I’ve transitioned into a more pop soundscape, I’m still heavily influenced. Also, Beth Gibbons singing ‘Glory Box’ and smoking on stage is too sexy. 

Edith Piaf – À l’Olympia
As with Nina Simone she sang of experiences in a language I didn’t understand, but I was completely enchanted. The way she sings and poises herself with small movements that stir up a fucking whirlwind… I think you can hear her influence in my music in terms of both melodies and phrasing. I learned French from listening to her and I’m forever grateful for the impact she’s had on me.

Huge thanks to GRANT for sharing her Five Favourites with us! 

Watch the new video for ‘Words’ here:

 

Photo Credit: Angelina Bergenwall

 

Get In Her EarsLeave a comment

Track Of The Day: LibraLibra – ‘Juicy Lucy’

With support from the likes of Radio X, BBC Introducing and Amazing Radio, Brighton-based LibraLibra have been firm favourites of GIHE for some time now, never ceasing to impress. And we remain throughly impressed by their latest incredible offering.

Taken from their upcoming debut EP, ‘Juicy Lucy’ takes aim at the desire for a ‘perfect life’ and society’s obsession with celebrity culture and body image. A raging cacophony, it races with immense thunderous beats and frenzied hooks as the angst-driven power and gritty splendour of Beth Cannon’s vocal soars. A magnificent, riotous chaos; a ferocious swirling soundscape that defies genres and leaves you needing more of its unique, vibrant energy.

Of the track, Beth explains:

“The whole concept of the song itself is about obsession and escapism – despising being in your own skin and wanting to be someone else so badly you start to fixate, obsess upon another worldly being, you would even resort to attempting to consume them if it meant some of their radiance might rub off on to your own mundane and wretched being…”

Directed by Jay Bartlett, watch the wonderfully eccentric new video for ‘Juicy Lucy’ now.

Hail Mary, the upcoming debut EP from LibraLibra, is set for release on 14th August.

Mari Lane
@marimindles

Get In Her EarsLeave a comment

Re-Covered: Sally-Anne’s Illustrated Favourite Albums

If you’re anything like us, throughout Lockdown you may have been seeking refuge in some of your favourite records, perhaps rediscovering some old classics along the way. So, for this new feature, illustrator Sally-Anne Hickman re-imagines her favourite ten albums of all time by painting their covers in her own unique style, using watercolours.

Check out the fifth of Sally-Anne’s choices below, and keep your eyes peeled for the rest over the next few weeks…

My Bloody Valentine – Loveless
The pioneers of shoegaze, MBV created such an original and unique sound that nothing has come close to replicating it since. Kevin Shields is an innovator of ethereal atmospherics, he introduced a palette of guitar textures that range from noise rock to undersea creatures. This album, a musical masterpiece, blends a blizzard of guitar noise with soft androgynous vocals from Bilinda Butcher and a trance-inducing tremolo to create a sonic carousel of sound.

 

Sally-Anne Hickman
@sallyshinystars

Get In Her EarsLeave a comment

WATCH: Siv Disa – ‘Fear’

New York based singer-songwriter Siv Disa has now shared her latest single, ‘Fear’ – an escape artist’s ponderings on intimacy.

Disa sings confidentially in laid-back vocals about her aversion to intimacy, both revealing and repelling us. She likes things just a little bit out of reach, a little bit undecided otherwise she’d have to take a risk; asking “is that fear?” in the chorus, telling us she doesn’t like to think about that too much.

The up-close-and-personal lyrics are accompanied by mellow analog synths and beats that lull you into a false sense of security, creating a glistening majestic soundscape. 

In the video, Disa is literally running away from us in barren, snow-driven fields. We never see her face except in overexposed over-the-shoulder glances towards a car’s high beams.

‘Fear’ is out now via Trapped Animal Records.

Aisha Kasmir
@aisha_vocal

Get In Her EarsLeave a comment