Grace Cummings hails from Melbourne, and her sophomore record, Storm Queen, was conceived and recorded during the longest lockdown to happen anywhere in the world. The self-produced album has a raw, live feel with little in the way of accompanying instrumentation beyond Grace’s own acoustic guitar - and it’s all the richer for its simplicity and self-restraint. She explains, “I’ve got an album here that is quite sparse and has a lot of space, which was something that was kind of probably just forced on me a little bit because of the pandemic,” before ultimately concluding: “I think that maybe less is more.”
At the very beginning of our interview, Grace makes an interesting distinction: “I do play guitar, but I’m not a guitarist, if you know what I mean? I’m a guitar player.” She is, in fact, also many other things - a singer, a songwriter and an actress - but Grace’s relationship with the instrument is defined by its ability to serve her and her music, rather than the other way around. It’s a distinction that will resonate with many.
This story is from the July 2022 edition of Total Guitar.
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This story is from the July 2022 edition of Total Guitar.
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