Grace Gillespie’s Phantom-Like Beauty Drives ‘Empty In The Capital’

It's a song about isolation that feels oh-so-timely...

Grace Gillespie seems to move between digital production and folk-like textures, crafting a gossamer web of sound to capture her ideas.

Hailing from the south coast, she swapped her rural background for life in London, and this transition forms a huge part of her work.

New song 'Empty In The Capital' was written some time ago, and it's a means to channel "my isolation, fear and frustrations."

A song about the debilitating side of London life, it's taken on new meaning amid lockdown, and the generation anxiety that permeates our lives.

Grace comments: "I wrote my new song, 'Empty In The Capital', just before lockdown about themes that were coming up in my own life. Then suddenly, COVID is here and we are all sharing in my isolation, fear and frustrations. I don’t like London at the best of times and the idea of being stuck here was almost scary to me."

"The track very much follows the pattern of a day for me," she continues. "Much of my time is spent trying to reassure myself through rationalizing and acceptance, heard in the song’s verses, coupled with outbursts of inward frustration that I express in the choruses."

"I think it’s a pattern we have all been through throughout lockdown. We are trying with all our hearts to make the most of this gift of time and be ‘grateful for the day’ but then realising that we are sipping coffee and trying to create (or just get on with work) while ambulances are filing past."

We're able to premiere the video, and that slightly raw, gritty quality to the visuals is the perfect counterpoint to her music. Grace adds: "'Empty In The Capital' is a realisation that this juxtaposition is at the heart of all of life. There is always suffering and we are always perfecting a way to stick our head in the sand just to survive, I suppose."

Tune in now.

Photo Credit: Sophie Greenidge

Join us on the ad-free creative social network Vero, as we get under the skin of global cultural happenings. Follow Clash Magazine as we skip merrily between clubs, concerts, interviews and photo shoots. Get backstage sneak peeks, exclusive content and access to Clash Live events and a true view into our world as the fun and games unfold.

 

-
Join the Clash mailing list for up to the minute music, fashion and film news.