Grace Gillespie is a London-based artist and producer originally from Devon, who spent much of 2017 touring as part of the live line-up for 4AD’s Pixx. In 2019 Grace released her debut EP Pretending, Gillespie’s sound takes influences from the folk, alternative, and dream-pop traditions, providing a backdrop to her intriguing vocal melodies, shifting harmonies, and introspective lyricism
With soft picking and a broad emotional landscape, Gillespie’s new single “For Nick Drake,” is here to honor the late influential songwriter. With undeviating lyrical wit, cautious movement, and graceful harmonies, Gillespie has a voice full of unique inflection and magnetism. “For Nick Drake” is the final single off her new EP, After The Harvest Moon.
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Gillespie descriptively describes her inspiration behind the song…
My parents bought me a book about Nick Drake for Christmas and for some reason I started reading it from the back. I already knew the outline of his story, having grown up listening to his music, however, this book really delved into the details of his last days: his parents patiently documenting Nick’s (few) words and moods, his failed trips into London to record. It is an absolutely tragic story and one that moves me every time I hear it – every time I think about it. It breaks my heart to think that the majority of people didn’t manage to hear the beauty of his music whilst he was alive to play it to them. He played his songs at all the student unions and the sound of the crowd quite literally drowned out his songs and what he had to say. The whole thing seemed very metaphoric to me and got under my skin. The idea that we, as a human race, can be too loud, too uncaring to notice the real beauty of things. It makes me fearful as things get brighter and louder and faster that we will lose the slow, intricate quietness of raw craft. I didn’t plan to write the song for him – the words came out very quickly: A homage to a beautiful man who was too delicate, too quiet, too aware for this world.
