Grace Lightman
This week I had breakfast with Grace Lightman, and we spoke all about what she is up to at the moment and it was super.Grace sings, really rather beautifully and in the last couple of years has gone from being the lead singer in a band to becoming a solo artist, writing her own songs. I have a great admiration for anyone who can sing (I can't) and also for people who make a decision to pursue a career in something they truly love, that really makes them happy.Grace's voice is exquisite, and incredibly moving - and the music she is creating, her voice and the music, combined with her lyrics, is very poignant, conjuring up a sense of melancholy with a rather dreamy twist to it (listen to Black is the Colour). It is absolutely beautiful, there is really no other way to describe it.Grace currently has silver hair, and with her big alluring green eyes, and kooky black and white outfits, when you meet her, you just know she is someone. What I like about Grace is that she is very down to earth, she is passionate about what she does, she is confident, and she's a hard worker. I have seen her perform, and she captivating, but actually you also kind of want her as your best friend. She is fun and sassy, and very open to new ideas and has a wonderful imagination. You couldn't put her in any sort of box, but perhaps that is the perfected art of a performer. And performing is what she loves most - when she performs 'the whole world stops', for her it is 'the ultimate state of being' - and it is something, she told me, she just couldn't live without.So after leaving a band 3 years ago, Grace realised that she needed to not only sing music, but also create it - up until this point she had only ever performed. She began to be mentored by a song writer, spending two years learning to write songs, and meeting her current writing partner, Patrick along the way. Grace and Patrick write their songs in the deepest countryside on a farm, in a room full of pianos, with chickens in the farmyard outside. I love the image of Grace with her silver hair, and super outfits writing music on a farm - a chicken even features (accidentally) on one of the tracks.Grace and Patrick have hit on something incredibly special and ever since have been building an album, writing to a specific sound and visual palette - of which the first release is Vapour Trails. Grace describes her music and image as sounding, and looking like the Twilight Zone. We are thinking vintage sci-fi from the seventies, and I love this, for me it conjures up the image of old school sci-fi, in black, white, and silver, with lovelorn extraterrestrials lost in time and space.Grace will be releasing her first official single soon from this album, and has shot a video for this, directed by the film director Alex Lightman, who also happens to be her brother. I am so excited to see it.And in the meantime if you would like a taster, Grace recently played a gig which was music directed by her writing partner Patrick - the line up was San Felu, Waylor and Grace Lightman. This was her first gig with a full band, and she also sung one song with each of the other bands, I suggest you have a little listen it's all wonderful:Vapour Trails - Grace LightmanSanctuary Blues - San Felu feat. Grace LightmanHungover - Waylor with Grace LightmanSo excited for your single and video release Grace, it's going to be be magnificent!Alice xxxwww.gracelightman.comFacebook page: Grace LightmanPhotos by Dmitry Serostanov