"These songs are like the letters I never got towrite," reflects Grace Carter. "They're everything Iwanted to say but never could until now."
It was in music that Carter first discovered the strengthto speak out, to face down heartbreak and forge something transformative from the pain.Through songwriting, she found her voiceandwhat a voice it is.Powerfuland pure, with a remarkable ability to convey weighty emotions well beyond her 19 years, Carter's singing relies not on excess butrestraint. Shecommands your attentionwith subtlety at first, drawing you in with a whisper rather than a shout. There are no showy vocal pyrotechnicshere, no overprocessed productions, just a raw, intimate truthfulnessand a fierce independent streak. With the release of her arrestingdebut single, "Silence,"Carter is ready to share herhonesty and artistrywith the rest of the world.
"Everything I sing comesfrom somewhere real," Carter explains. "I started out writing just for myself, but as time's gone on, it's become clear that the songs are so honest that people can reallyconnect to them inrelation totheir own lives."
Carter grew up inthe coastal city of Brighton, England, and she vividly remembers the moment that shefirst truly connected with a song.She was on her way to visit her grandparents, ridingin the backseat of her mother's car, when suddenly,Nina Simone's voicebrought her to tears.Carter was perhaps too young to appreciate the cultural undercurrents at play in the musicthe way she can now, but she certainly understood the emotion. Complicated family dynamics at home often left Carterfeeling frustrated and resentful, which could at timesbecomeoverwhelming, butSimone's voice revealed the cathartic potential for music asa form ofescape.
"Growing up Ihad a lot of anger" Cartersays, "but I didn’t have a voice or a way of getting those emotions out and processing them. When I was 13, my stepdad bought me a guitarand steered me toward music, and as soon as I started writingsongs, it felt like the weight just lifted right off of me.Songwriting was like this little weapon, this special tool I had. I never wanted to stop."
While her classmates headed to the parkto play, Carter would race home after school each day to work on her songs. By 14, she'd begun performing her own material in public; by 15, she'd converted her bedroom into a makeshift recording studio; and by the time she started music college at 17, she'd taught herself to play piano just from watching YouTube videos. The collection of recordings Carter assembled during her time at school areremarkable, not only for their emotional and musical maturity, but for the sheer magnetism of her performances.
"Silence" offers the first taste of what'sin store for the debut albumCarter's currently hard at work preparing, and it'sapromising glimpse to say the least. Co-written with production/writing team The 23rd, the track was recorded during a two-week studio session in Spain, where Carter stacked up vocal beds 40 layers deep in some spots to capture her vision.The arrangement is simple, drumsand a piano carrying most of the musical weight, but the textures are engrossing, and Carter's vocal delivery, which calls to mind shadesof Adele and India Arie,is mesmerizing.
"It's a song about frustration," says Carter. "When someone's saying all these things to you that have no substance, you just want them tofinallybe honest with you. Youwant to say, 'Look me in the eye and tell me the truth.
'"The truth is Carter's specialty. As she sings the infectious chorus, "If you wanna say something / Silence don't mean nothing," it's clear she's castigating someone who's hurt her, but it's also possible to hear those lines as a reminder to herself. Music enabled Grace Carter to discover her strength, to create meaning out of chaos, to turn a lingering ache into beautiful art. She's found her voice, and silence is no longer an option.
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