Aug 12, 2022
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Album Review: Cary Grace – ‘Lady of Turquoise’ (MUSOscribe)
Cary Grace has carved out a fascinating niche in the world of music. Though she got her start in the Nashville singer-songwriter community (she even had Vince Gill play on one of her early albums!), her chosen musical idiom couldn’t be farther from all that. An American expat currently living in the UK, Grace has two parallel careers. She runs Wessex Analogue, a boutique maker of Wiard brand hand-built analog synthesizers. Relatedly, she records and tours under her own name, making original progressive rock. She has released a number of albums, and in recent years has participated in some impressive busman’s-holiday endeavors (like a splendid cover of Pink Floyd’s “Fat Old Sun,” released on very limited-edition lathe-cut vinyl) and contributing to a superb Fruits de Mer compilation, The Three Seasons. But it’s her original music that remains the most compelling of all Grace’s endeavors. Her latest release is Lady of Turquoise. In keeping with her aesthetic of focusing on more than just the auido part, the album is beautifully packaged. But as ever, it’s really about the music. The sprawling, ambitious work extends across two CDs, and it’s perhaps Grace’s most fully realized collection to date. The first disc opens with the wonderfully languorous “Khepera at the Dawn,” and the influence of dreamy, laid-back space rock early-mid Pink Floyd is clearly in evidence. The tune bubbles along contemplatively – pretty much a one-chord affair – but it’s nonetheless warmly inviting and nicely textured. But Grace isn’t merely a purveyor of space-rock; she’s a skilled tunesmith, as evidenced by moody, atmospheric tracks like “Letterbox.” Her strong voice and impressive range are on brilliant display, but her band rocks, too; as “Letterbox” unfolds, squalls of wah-wah guitar work their way into the mix, eventually taking it over. Artists like Steven Wilson have taken exception to being labeled “progressive,” and one suspects that Grace might express similar sentiments. Though her music certainly has the scope and dimension of that rock subgenre, her foundation in song makes her work supremely accessible. Not to belabor the Floyd references, but in a real sense she’s about as prog as Waters-Gilmour-Mason-Wright. The vibe is there, but Grace’s work is as catchy and finely crafted as Steven Wilson’s (decidedly non-prog) To the Bone. “Without a Trace” is a lovely ballad with crystalline piano, soaring guitar leads, and sublimely double-tracked Grace lead vocals. The trippy “Into Dust” suggests early Jefferson Airplane crossed with Massive Attack, plus a dose of Hawkwind. Fans of space rock will luxuriate in the largely spoken-word “Afterglow.” Ian East’s wonderful saxophone work on “Film Noir” is a thing of beauty; it enhances an already superb tune. And the first disc concludes with an extended work, the windswept, world-vibe “Costume Jewellery.” The track effectively combines all of Grace’s musical assets – plus some fantastic musicianship by her associates – into a well-rounded tune that doesn’t waste a second of its twelve-plus minutes. Subtly redolent of some of The Church’s more exploratory works, it’s perhaps the best track on a uniformly enjoyable discs. Had she deigned to stop there, Cray Grace could have been satisfied, having created an excellent album of standard length. But perhaps the time spent on side projects resulted in a backlog of top-shelf original material. Regardless, the second disc of Lady of Turquoise offers up more impressive sonic goodies. “Moonflowers (Fade to Black” finds Grace’s vocals coexisting peacefully with what’s essentially a seven-minute John Garden guitar solo. The song’s glacial pace and Nick Mason-styled drum fills (courtesy of David Payne) provide the perfect backdrop for Grace’s steely yet gentle vocal, itself calling to mind Julie Driscoll (though I can’t put my finger on what about it reminds me of the latter). “Sacrifice” is – and this is meant in the best way possible – a radio ready track, with a strong melody, sultry vocal and solid beat. It heads pleasingly into the stratosphere multiple times across its ten-plus minutes, but Grace always brings things back to Earth. The moody, melancholy “Memory” slows the pace down a bit, though the track eventually unfolds to reveal a majestic arrangement before settling back into its quiet vibe. “Castle of Dreams” is a churning, swirling psychedelic number that suggests Steve Hillage. The brief “The Land of Two Fields” is a pastoral piece that nonetheless make excellent use of analog synths ; in fact it’s one of few “synthy” moments on Lady of Turquoise, underscoring that fact that Grace views the synthesizer as merely one in a very extensive collection of musical tools. The double album concludes with its title track, an assured rocker that – like “Costume Jewellery” that closes the first disc – tidily combines all of Cary Grace’s strengths and sets them on display. One suspects that this music is even more transcendent and emotionally resonant live onstage. For that, only UK and European audiences are likely to enjoy that privilege. But for the rest of us, the 2CD Lady of Turquoise is much more than a consolation prize.
—Bill Kopp, MUSOscribe
Originally published here: http://blog.musoscribe.com/index.php/2020/01/09/album-review-cary-grace-lady-of-turquoise/
Lady of Turquoise, track-by-track, day thirteen: “Lady of Turquoise”
December 13th, 2019 Lady of Turquoise, Disc 2, Track 6 “Lady of Turquoise” (Lyrics by Cary Grace. Music by Budge, Garden, Grace, Payne.)
Credits: Cary Grace: vocals, synthesizers (Minimoog) John Garden: electric guitar, synthesizer (Prophet 5) Graham Clark: electric guitar Andy Budge: bass David Payne: drums
Notes:
“This is the end, beautiful friend, the end...”
Well, that went rather quickly! I can hardly believe we have reached the final track already.
This is the title track, the final track of disc two, and the conclusion of the album.
I hope you all have the luckiest Friday the 13th possible, under the circumstances, and may music uplift your souls and soothe your hearts on this dark and dreary winter night.
“Lady of turquoise; Lady of stars.”
Listen: https://carygrace.bandcamp.com/track/lady-of-turquoise
Lady of Turquoise, track-by-track, day ten: “Memory”
December 10th, 2019 Lady of Turquoise, Disc 2, Track 3 “Memory”
(Lyrics by Cary Grace. Music by Budge, Garden, Grace, Payne.)
Credits: Cary Grace: vocals, organ, strings John Garden: electric guitar Andy Budge: bass David Payne: drums
When we recorded the basic tracks for this, John immediately asked to overdub a guitar solo, saying it needed something like “a big Matt Bellamy sort of guitar solo”, which I guess is pretty accurate!
It took me a while to start writing the lyrics for this one, but when inspiration came to me, the writing went quickly; I wrote them in around ten minutes once I had the idea.
By way of full disclosure, I borrowed the title from an obscure H.P. Lovecraft short story, and the first two lines are a paraphrased from the text. Here it is if you don’t know it: http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/m.aspx
Listen: https://carygrace.bandcamp.com/track/memory
Lady of Turquoise, track-by-track, day five: “Afterglow”
December 5th, 2019 Lady of Turquoise, Track 5 "Afterglow” (Lyrics by Cary Grace. Music by Budge, Garden, Grace, Payne.)
Credits: Cary Grace: vocals, synthesizers John Garden: electric guitar Andy Budge: bass David Payne: drums
Notes: This is the continued jam, as it happened in the session (continuing from the previous two tracks) with added poetry, and synthesizer.
The synth I played on this is an old Octave Cat SRM, which I basically rebuilt from a coal dust encrusted rusty corpse, which was very kindly given to me as a gift, the details of which I will spare my readers because most of it is quite technical in nature (but if any nerds want me to bore them with the whole saga, just ask me sometime, and I’ll be happy to oblige). Most people probably wouldn’t have been happy about receiving a broken synthesizer as a gift, but fortunately, I’m not most people.
This was the Cat’s very first outing after extensive repairs and restoration. Its chaotic, oscillating bass rumble at the beginning and in the quiet section in the middle are favourite moments for me! Of course all the other (more melodic) synth parts are also the Cat.
It’s a weird beast, but I love the sound of it. Very different from any of the other synths I have.
Listen: https://carygrace.bandcamp.com/track/afterglow
Lady of Turquoise, track-by-track, day four: “Into Dust”
December 4th, 2019 Lady of Turquoise, Track 4 “Into Dust” (Lyrics by Cary Grace. Music by Budge, Garden, Grace, Payne.)
Credits: Cary Grace: vocals, organ John Garden: electric guitar Andy Budge: bass David Payne: drums
Notes: (Ah, such an appropriate track for my birthday! Another year closer to returning to the dust from whence I came...)
In the recording session, this one immediately followed “Without a Trace”, as did the track after it (in reality, this one and the next one are kind of one composite piece, because they flow into each other, but I split it into tracks for the CD—I would suggest listening to both of them all the way through for the full effect tomorrow night when “Afterglow” has been unveiled).
I recall from the session that John’s guitar on this “trilogy” was going through a completely over-the-top chain of multiple distortion pedals, which were all turned on at once. The pedal board he had was crammed almost entirely full of various fuzz and overdrive pedals—and of course there was a wah pedal on there too, because you’ve got to have one of those.
Never seen anything like it before or since, but I do love the guitar sound.
I wrote the lyrics later, recorded vocals, added the organ, and added the bells in the middle section.
Listen: https://carygrace.bandcamp.com/track/into-dust
Lady of Turquoise, track-by-track, day one: “Khepera at the Dawn”
December 1st, 2019 Lady of Turquoise, Track 1 “Khepera at the Dawn”
(Instrumental. Budge/Grace/Lewry/Payne.)
Credits:
Cary Grace - Synthesizers Steffe Sharpstrings - Guitar Andy Budge - Bass David Payne - Drums
Notes:
In the mythos of Ancient Egypt, the scarab (Khepra/Khepera) propels the sun disc across the sky from dawn in the east to dusk in the west. This is the beginning of the journey, floating with optimism and expansiveness. To me, this track is somewhat reminiscent of the more atmospheric efforts of NEU! (a la “Weissensee”). Like many of the tracks to follow, this was a one-off spontaneous jam, which I tweaked into a tighter song structure, and then added additional synthesizers and soundscapes.
Listen:
https://carygrace.bandcamp.com/track/khepera-at-the-dawn
For details and venue link, visit http://www.carygrace.com/gigs