Twenty-four year old folk singer and acoustic rock goddess Abi Grace may be new to the Seattle music scene, but she has caused an underground fervor. With comparisons to Ani-Difranco and Conor Oberst, amongst others, this young artist shows promising talent and a rarely seen musical dexterity. She has caught the eyes of local bloggers and music lovers for her “captivating, chameleon like vocals” (Spew, Dec 2009), and thoughtful lyrics.
Music is the medium through which Abi Grace’s intuitive lyrics flow, often combining her love for mythology, all things metaphysical, and an inherent need to create. As the artist herself states,
“Music became my way of expressing my feelings more than anything else. Secret crushes, frustration with school or work, confusion; I’ve written a song about all of it. I’m something of an emotional exhibitionist, I suppose.”
Despite the gravitational pull music has played in the life of this young woman, there was a time where Abi, like most aspiring artists, struggled to find the right career path, which manifested itself in her placing music on her life’s back burner during her Junior and Senior year at Evergreen State College. In a quote, she reports [that]
“I thought I was being down to earth and practical, but really I was letting other people’s expectations guide me instead of following my own internal compass. I finally woke up when I realized that no matter what I did, someone would nay-say it, so I might as well do what I’m good at.”
Her passion and dedication for her work allowed Abi to work forty-hour weeks as a receptionist in order to help fund the recording of her first full-length album with her long-time friend Chris Mathews Jr. The result, Heroically Lost, Heroically Found, synthesizes material written over a four year span, earnestly telling the tale of a young woman finding herself. The album’s ten songs follow the break from youthful naivete, through finally the dawning of new awareness. She reiterates this in her reflection:
"I wanted to make something that reflected my experiences but retained a universal quality that anyone could relate to. Every song has a soul, and that is what I try to communicate through my music. While the inspiration for each song may have originated in my own experience, they take on a life of their own when I perform them."
Having left her day job behind, Abi Grace lives day to day on the success of her music, and is grateful for the tremendous outpouring of generosity from fans both locally and around the world, as well as the dedicated efforts of close friends who contributed their time and talent to the project. The album Heroically Lost, Heroically Found was released on time on Halloween of 2009. Already, 2010 is yielding positive results with a steady calendar of live events in and around the Seattle area, and a busy studio schedule at Bristol Studios, with singles coming soon.
