By Emilia Brookfield-Pertusini
A honey prickled voice rolls through the chambers of my Koss portaPros during an anticipatory Spring walk in Durham. The Spotify algorithm has decided that me, right here, right now, is the perfect audience for such a tender serenade. ‘Grace Elizabeth Harvey – Familiar’ flashes back up at me. The chords and charmingly brutal lyrics, in spite of the optimism of Harvey’s voice, recall etching memories of syrupy mornings, sunlight slipping in and out of curtains, after some bleary eyed sleepover of youth, singing whilst waiting for pancakes. This a truly trancentry, transportive experience, against the Medieval, faith woven paths of Harvey’s alma mater The gentle intimacy of Harvey’s sound is profound, and is apparent within her new single ‘Lullaby for Wasted Time’ (out 4th of April).
Harvey’s delicate sound is informed by a frenzy of folk artists. The rolling, dreamy guitar resonates and hums with the haze of Nick Drake. The somber dewyness of Leonard Cohen drips against the delicately placed cello and gossamer lyrism. A communion of folk is created by Harvey, staying devoted to her folk roots. Her upcoming tour and EP, ‘Other Faith’ ( 9th of May), is a passage through faith’s many formed manifestations; Harvey’s own faith clearly lies within the grooves of folk LPs. Faith appears as a confusing gauze, fragile when untangling, trapping in its covetousness. Yet, the apparitional iterations of Harvey’s music enchantingly unravel the holy, melancholic, and loving underpinnings of faith. The push and pull of faith, and faithlessness, moves Harvey’s music into crushing crocendos, and gentle frolics.
Adrianne Lenker, a fountain of inspiration for Harvey and the 21st century’s brand of folk, has a conjuring quality about her. Her presence and the ability to melt the world around her, and Big Thief, during performance, possesses a transient magic that illuminates her moody ethereality further. This 21st century iteration of folk, one that is moodier and bolder in its whimsy, has clearly been captured by Harvey, with her new single, ‘Lullaby for Wasted Time’. A beautifully damning lyricism, with crushing dejection, the sentimentality and abandon run clear. The chords brim and bubble with honesty, meandering, brooklike, into a captivating haze.
The suspension held in the musicality of Grace Elizabeth Harvey’s song is dazzling. Precious, personal, and relentlessly poetic. The subtle power that spurs Harvey’s creativity relinquishes faith in folks’ new form. So, whether meandering down carpeted avenues sun blinded, or rain shafted, curled up in the intimacy of a morning cup of tea, or simply blessed with a voraciousness for new gems within the music scene, Grace Elizabeth Harvey’s gold-spun rhymes will transport you to a personal poetic elysium.