“I tried to resist music for a while, but songs started coming into my head naturally and so did abilities on various instruments. Now it’s at the center of my attention.”
Born in California and raised in London, for Grace Inspace, music is the family trade! With her parents being musicians, Grace found herself exposed to music from a very early age. Growing up in jam sessions and home studios, following her parents to clubs, pubs and festivals they were booked to perform. We caught up with the artist off the back of her latest single “Off the Grid”, to find out more about her journey and what we can look forward to in the future!
Off the Grid
Grace highlights how she is a “dispassionate observer” of life off the grid in rural California and Oregon. The track starting as a journalistic dream sequence song, the fantasy of an urbanite craving wild, which slowly transformed into instructions to her current living situation. With reference to her work, the artist categorizes them as dystopian anthems inspired by what she has witnessed travelling through America.
The artist is keen for her listeners to feel a sense of intimacy and escapism when they step into her music. “They’re the protagonist of the world I’m narrating, and the music just enhances their own reality and imagination”.
Finding Inspiration
The artist points to her parents as being key features of her life that have nurtured and encourages her creative ambitions. With particular reference to her parent work ethic, wisdom and musical knowledge. Something she thrives off.
Grace opens up about being susceptible to her own “cruel inner monologue”. She explains how as an obsessive individual, she lives through her own set of compulsions and neuroses that often lead to self imposed isolation.
“I’m learning to find the magic in the madness and quell the swells of it by writing songs and jumping in cold water; that electric ice always gives your identity a shock.”
The artist points to the making of her first collection of songs where she had the privilege of working with some of her musical heroes; John King of the Dust Brothers, Stephen Perkins from Jane’s Addiction and Nick McCabe from The Verve. These collaborations were the artists version of college, explaining how she got to see “masters at work”. With quarantine, this has led to new self discovery, having pushed Grace to keep entirely her own creative council. She goes onto explain how for the first time she is discovering the thrill of self collaboration and developing a musical community of one.
Looking to the Future
The artist feels social media is an essential tool in autonomy for an artist. Describing it as a calling card for the world you’re inhabiting and imagining. That said, Grace highlights how it can be difficult to detach your self worth from it , “especially when you have to view yourself as a brand; a company and product that you’re CEO of, monetizing your own vulnerability. I’m still trying to find balance with it.”
Grace explains how her ambitions align with a personal brand & singing like Robert Plant as she describes herself as the tiny mop haired girl going full exorcist every time she heard Black Dog and Neil Young. She points to Joni Mitchell and Beck having a special place in her heart. However, having read Flea’s “earth shattering memoir”, this has become front and centre in her musical and spiritual admiration.
The artist explains how the the industry and music are two separate things. Two separate sets of rules. “Success is all in the eye of the beholder, figure out what it means to you and keep moving towards that image. Don’t get caught up in comparison, everyone is on their own path.”
Grace highlights her biggest challenges to date have ranged from dealing with social activity. The need to break free of it to find the loneliness required for her to create, whilst finding solace and confidence in doing so.
Currently working on her next album, she is in the process of developing, by her own admission, the most authentic iteration of music she has channelled to date. Pointing out her “ambition is ravenous, but she likes a slow burn.”
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