Graywave – Before

There’s something incredibly exciting when things start to click into place for a new artist. When you can hear them moving up through the gears as their sound shifts to a space where they know it’s precisely meant to be.

This is definitely happening to Graywave right now.

‘Like Heaven’ in December – the first taster from this year’s upcoming ‘Planetary Shift’ EP – shifted her shoegaze sound into a harder, darker place while maintaining its swirling beauty.

Now comes ‘Before’, the final single* before the five-track EP lands.

It starts with a beautiful looping guitar line that’s joined by clubbing, start-stop drums and bass, and an off-kilter, crystalline guitar part that’s catchy and menacing at the same time. There’s a dark storm coming. You can feel it as the guitars start to build, as the lurching drums just won’t let you settle. We’re heading for the witching hour.

And then it, well, it explodes. The final 60 seconds are a force of nature, a howling storm of guitars and catharsis. The vocal, ‘Like before’ over and over, comes from the guts, a real scream from the soul.

“This song,” she says, “was a way to express how I feel when I get anxious about all the negatives in my life and the world. Expressing that through lyrics and music really helped me deal with it.”

The planets are aligning for Graywave.

I’m counting down the days to the EP.

* – Editors note – there will be one more single release before the EP.

Jamie Summerfield