‘Peach’ Highlights Grace Gardner As A Musical Powerhouse
Samantha Colleran, March 2023
Grace Gardner is a singer songwriter who draws inspiration from 70s/80s rock (Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks serve as her biggest musical heroes) as well as elements of jazz from her time spent living in New Orleans. A talented multi-instrumentalist with powerful songwriting abilities, Grace is quickly growing in popularity, and with the release of her debut EP Peach, there’s no denying the fact she’s a star. Speaking about the EP with º1824, Grace shared the backstory of some of the songs, as well as the process of teaching herself how to work in music production programs like Logic to produce the EP on her own.
Creating Peach was what Grace describes as a solitary experience. The entire EP was produced at her desk at home with friends sending instrumental recordings virtually. It was a challenge to process the emotions and feelings woven throughout the songs without collaborators, but doing it alone allowed Grace to be more vulnerable in her musical delivery. Songs like “Parcel” may not have been as raw and emotional had they been written with a group of collaborators. Although other people may have had relationships end on good terms but still have feelings towards the other person, only Grace could have captured the emotional aspect of what the word ‘parcel’ meant to her and the person she’s singing about (neither of them cared for the word ‘package’ and instead referred to their packages as ‘delivery’ or ‘parcel’- no one else could capture that in such a heartbreaking way unless they had directly gone through the experience themselves).
For Grace, songwriting is a tool she uses to process her emotions and understand the ‘big feelings’ life can throw at us. Writing lyrics solo is where she feels most comfortable, but collaborating with friends in person or through Zoom has come to bring her a lot of joy as it makes her feel less alone being seen by other people who have gone through similar situations or understand her feelings. She finds inspiration in many different objects and places, which she learned to do through a songwriting class, and puts herself in other people’s shoes when writing to better understand the world around her.
Living in New Orleans for some time and having the ability to experience Mardi Gras and live jazz music allowed Grace to develop a better musical ear. Hearing all the intricate pieces of big band music played with so much intention inspired Grace to go beyond simple vocal and guitar tracks, and she says she has an ear for hearing when different musical elements should be present within her music.
Being an artist in today’s world will always warrant the social media talk, which Grace spoke about in a very honest way. She expressed gratitude for the ability to create a community of fans who are passionate about her and her music that she may not have been able to reach without social media, but that oftentimes the algorithms and focus on numbers can cause a lot of negative feelings, especially for those who struggle with mental health or are working toward recovery. Music has always been an important part of Grace’s identity, and you can feel that love and passion in everything she does.
If you listened to Peach on Spotify, Apple Music, or any other streaming service and loved what you heard, you’ll be excited to know that Grace plans on releasing a debut album later this year! With about fifty songs already written, it’s sure to pack a powerful punch once the final round of songs are chosen and completed. Be sure to follow her on Instagram and TikTok to stay up to date on future releases, and drop your favorite Peach track in the comments.