Gracie Souz, aka Grace Strickland de Souza – of alt-pop band KIN, has struck out on her own for a new debut EP, Better in Space. From it we’re delighted to premiere the new video for the track Brian Cox right here on Backseat Mafia this morning, ahead of its release this coming Friday (29th January)
Of the track, Gracie says “It all started as a self-fulfilling bedroom project, a way of escaping anxieties induced by the first lockdown last year. A lot of the feelings of loneliness, isolation and dream-like visions of how to escape manifested themselves into this EP. I hadn’t planned on starting a solo project but in the space of about 2 weeks I was sitting on these songs which I felt I needed to do something with and completely expressed how I was feeling, a reflection of the time we were all stuck in.
I wanted the songs to summarise the sadness, anger and desperation but also remain playful with a touch of hope too. This single, Brian Cox, encapsulates all of that for me, and working in collaboration with producer Alexander Comana, I feel we found the balance between beautiful cinematic sounds and industrial synths while ultimately still being a pop record.
Being in lockdown and trying to plan and release new music has been a challenge and the struggle and lack of money and support artists face at the moment is chilling. The only positive has been the luxury of time and with it I tried to use the limitations to make something as creative as possible and take control of all elements of the release. Fortunately, I come from a multi-discipline performance background so used all my skills to create the artwork, direct, film and edit the music video on my own and managed to keep the budget to whatever the price of a few pots of glitter costs on eBay!”
There’s something almost folk like about the melodies in Brian Cox, albeit wrapped tightly in this rather lovely shimmering alt-pop exterior – full of electronic hue, breathy strums and emotive piano lines. Over the top, Gracie’s vocal pierces the haze with her warm tone as she pulls out the soul and the emotion in equal measure.
She’s taken the shimmer and the haze forward to the video, which glitters almost as much as…..well, the glitter. Check it out, here
Pre-save here https://levelmusic.lnk.to/briancox
