GRACE CUMMINGS „BLOODHORSE!“

GRACE CUMMINGS
„BLOODHORSE!“
(ATO Records)

On her fourth album, “Bloodhorse!”, Grace Cummings delves into dark emotional landscapes rooted in her own history. Her lyrics trace childhood fears and wounds that continue to reverberate in the present – much like the muffled synth that drones on for two minutes at the end of “FAKE”, refusing to fade away. Until it gives way to “Bloodhorse!”. The title track bursts into a buoyant gallop, yet it too carries its share of emotional baggage: the expectations placed on an imperfect self, forced to change both internally and externally in order to be accepted.

Yet the new album is far from a celebration of sadness. The self-destructive feelings begin to recede once the music takes on its healing power. That idea is already at work in “The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Morphine”. The opening track borrows its title from the American musical The Sound of Music, whose film adaptation won several Oscars in 1966. In its opening scene, Julie Andrews sings of the Austrian mountain landscape, arms outstretched as she wanders through green meadows; Cummings’ lyrical persona, by contrast, needs morphine to become one with herself and her surroundings.  “Here, I have moments of peace / Something that believes in me.” Morphine, however, should be understood metaphorically here. Cummings’ drug of choice, the thing that banishes the demons of the past, is music.

The musical reference also resonates on another level. At times, passages driven by strings and percussion sound as though a film orchestra were at work. Elsewhere, the arrangement strips back to its essentials, placing piano and voice firmly at the centre. The result is a dynamic interplay between intimacy and grand gesture. In “WITCH! WITCH! WITCH!”, chiming tubular bells evoke memories of Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells, abruptly steering the song in a different direction. “My Island and Me” initially unfolds as a self-contained, almost meditative piece dominated by Cummings’ soulful vocals, until a distorted electric guitar pushes its way to the front, joining the musical duel.

Grace Cummings (Photo: Jeff Anderson Jr.)

Cummings has the gift of transporting her audience to other places in the blink of an eye. One moment, you imagine yourself sitting in a concert hall behind the orchestra pit; the next, you find yourself in a cramped, smoky bar with a rickety piano. Alongside the arrangements, the vocals also create a striking contrast. Cummings’ powerful voice is usually front and centre, but, as on “I’m Not Crazy”, she can just as easily turn soft and subdued. Speaking after her show in Cologne, the singer explains why: “I wanted to sound like an innocent girl pretty much. And I think me changing my voice for that particular song is an important part of its meaning.” “I’m Not Crazy” deals with an ambivalent love relationship cast in a dark shadow; the initially tender feelings eventually give way to violence: “I could tell you I love you / If it’s what you want to hear / And follow you into a violent year.”

In Cologne, where Cummings is opening for Father John Misty, she performs songs from Bloodhorse! in a stripped-back duo format. Miles Brown joins her on theremin, a mysterious electronic instrument played without physical contact. The orchestral sound of the studio production may be impossible to recreate in this setting, but Cummings doesn’t see that as a drawback. For her, the songs’ real power lies elsewhere – in the emotions they carry: “That’s also why we can play the record with the two of us. Because my focus is the feeling of it, which is big.”