Album Review: Grace Petrie - "Connectivity"

 

It's been a decidedly long time since we last heard from Grace Petrie - no less than three years in fact since her previous album Queer As Folk. Touted as the female Frank Turner over the past decade, I'll own up to having been a fairly recent convert to her music after someone recommended her mini-album There's No Such Thing As A Protest Singer to me which led to me rapidly checking out the rest of her back catalogue.

As with her previous releases, it's Petrie's heart-on-sleeve honesty that really carries this album - while We've Got An Office In Hackney seems to start off as a humorous jibe against PR men trying to turn musicians into commodities, it quickly turns into a quite disarmingly honest tribute to those who carry themselves on their own values and the loneliness of the touring musician - quite a feat to pull off in four short minutes. Similarly, No Woman Ever Wants To Be A Muse is a well-written look back at some of the embarrassing songs/poems you wrote for the girls you fancied as a teenager and I'll admit that I might have found myself nodding along slightly embarrassed at some of the lyrics on here.

Elsewhere, Petrie looks at the joys and tribulations of playing new towns on the a cappella Galway, the importance of friendship on The Last Man Alive and the joys of shopping as a single person on Ikea while the heartbreaking ode to relationships gone wrong Technicolour shows her undeniable skill as a lyricist. For those worried that the political fire that informed a lot of her best work before this, a listen to the closing one two of Some Days Are Worse Than Others and The Losing Side should set your fears at rest on this.

Connectivity is a genuinely great and touching album, tales of warts and all real life but, similar to Frank Turner, done with a sense of humanity and warmth that makes it a near essential listen. It's medicine for the soul for anyone who's been suffering a bit of late. Highly recommended.

Bandcamp Link

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑 (9/10)

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