Grace Cummings releases album title track ‘Ramona’
Grace Cummings | Credit: Tajette O'Halloran
EARLY PRAISE FOR GRACE CUMMINGS’ RAMONA:
“Blessed with a voice full of heart-tugging drama and piercing vibrato ache, Grace Cummings favoured ragged immediacy on her first two albums but takes a more lavish approach here. Recorded with producer Jonathan Wilson, Cummings embraces rich orchestral arrangements, sultry laments and bluesy torch songs, showcasing an impressive vocal and emotional range.”
- Uncut
“...a voice made of golden honey that will stop you in your tracks”
- Ones to Watch
“She’s developed…a theatrical blend of powerhouse vocals and acid-Western instrumentals invoking dramatic Outback landscapes rather than urban panoramas.”
- Flood
“Cummings’ gale-force vocals are paired with orchestral grandeur... Ambitious in scale and virtuosity, Ramona offers eleven acts of intense communion.”
- Rock’n’Reel
Lauded Australian singer-songwriter Grace Cummings has released ‘Ramona,’ the third offering - and title track - from her upcoming album Ramona - out April 5th via ATO Records / [PIAS]. The new song comes with a black and white music video, which premiered exclusively on PAPER Magazine this morning. Brimming with theatricality, her mesmerizing and powerful vocals chronicle a period of Grace’s life where she yearned to be someone else by hiding behind a mask of bravado and melodrama. Grace’s immense talent bleeds into every note of this impressive track, a nod to Dylan’s ‘To Ramona’ which she utilized as a guiding light for her artistic sensibilities.
Watch ‘Ramona’ video here
Of the song, Grace says, “This song makes reference to two of the most momentous songs in my life, Bob Dylan’s ‘To Ramona’ and The Wizard of Oz’s “If I were King of the Forest.” It’s about putting on a mask to become brave and true. I have spent a lot of time living in my own little world, because I have been quite scared of the real one. I have spent much of my life believing that I deserved to be unhappy. I became a weak little bird who didn’t know who she was and at times I was so unwell that I didn’t even think I wanted to be in the world anymore. I hated what I saw in the mirror and I wanted to be somebody else. That’s what ‘Ramona’ is about.”
This spring, Grace will be embarking on a U.S. tour that kicks off in May with stops in Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Brooklyn and more along with her debut at Shaky Knees Festival in Atlanta. Get tickets here.
In January Grace unveiled the first track from Ramona - ‘On And On‘- along with a hauntingly beautiful video and, just last month, revealed a charming visualizer for the track ‘Common Man‘.
Also an accomplished stage actor, Cummings imbues all of Ramona with an unbridled theatricality—an element on glorious display in the album’s title track. “I wrote that at a time when I wasn’t doing well and had the sense that other people saw me as a weak little bird,” says Cummings, who mined inspiration from Bob Dylan’s 1964 song ‘To Ramona.’ “I didn’t want to be myself so I decided to be Ramona instead, full of intensity and melodrama. For me there’s a lot of safety in putting on a costume or a mask; sometimes it feels like the only way to express any true honesty or vulnerability.”
UPCOMING TOUR DATES
Wed May 1 - Gold Diggers - Los Angeles, CA
Sat May 4 - Shaky Knees Music Festival - Atlanta, GA
Sun May 5 - Cat’s Cradle Back Room - Carrboro, NC
Tue May 7 - DC9 - Washington, DC
Wed May 8 - Arden Gild Hall - Wilmington, DE
Thu May 9 - Public Records - Brooklyn, NY
Wed May 15 - Forest National - Brussels Belgium *
Thu May 16 – Stadthalle - Offenbach, Germany *
Sat May 18 - Forum Karlin - Prague, Czechia *
Sun May 19 - Arena Wien - Vienna, Austria *
Mon May 20 – Columbiahalle - Berlin, Germany *
Tue May 21 - Kantine am Berghain – Berlin, Germany
Thu May 23 - AFAS Live - Amsterdam, Netherlands *
Fri May 24 - The Lexington – London, United Kingdom
Sat May 25 - Wide Awake - London, United Kingdom
Sun May 26 – Olympia - Liverpool, United Kingdom *
Mon May 27 - Usher Hall - Edinburgh, United Kingdom *
Wed May 29 - Civic Halls - Wolverhampton, United Kingdom *
Thu May 30 - Bristol Beacon - Bristol, United Kingdom *
Fri May 31 - Brighton Dome - Brighton, United Kingdom *
Sun Jun 2 - Maifeld Derby – Mannheim, Germany
Mon Jun 3 - Import Export – Munich, Germany
Tue Jun 4 - Unaltrofestival @ Circolo Magnolia - Milan, Italy *
Fri Jun 7 - La Boule Noire – Paris, France
Sat Jun 8 - Best Kept Secret - Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands
Wed Jun 12 – Bergenfest – Bergen, Norway
*with King Gizzard
