Grace Solero – Hundred years apart

London based singer Grace Solero and her band are due to release their second album at the end of September.  The debut album, ‘New moon’ was released in 2009, so it’s been a long wait for ‘Hundred years apart’ but it’s going to be worth the wait.

Grace Solero and the band have moved on significantly since ‘New moon’.  Grace’s vocals are sounding far better, the songs are better and the music sounds better than ever – this really is a step change in quality, and when you’re seeing things improve in such a big way then it’s definitely better to wait till things are perfect than to rush out a release that isn’t as good as it could be.  Assisting with the album has been Pedro Caparros of Breed 77, who has co-arranged much of the material

Brief comments on a few tracks..

The album opens with a nice guitar riff that kicks off Riptide’.  The song gives a good idea of what to expect from the album – Grace Solero has quite an alternative rock sound, and it’s not to everyone’s taste, but that’s always the case when you have a sound that isn’t bland and radio friendly – some people love it while others hate it.  Her voice is quite reminiscent of Alanis Morissette, and works well here.

Grace’s friend, Tristania singer Mariangela Demurtas guests on ‘Electro’, providing backing vocals

‘The woman by the river’ is a quiet, more gentle song than the rest of the album.  It’s simply Grace Solero singing and playing acoustic guitar for the majority of the song, with some nice harp sections as well

This album is a big step forward from ‘New Moon’, in all respects.  Grace Solero has a quite distinctive sound with both her voice and the music.  It’s got plenty of hard rock, but it’s also got quite an indie or alternative feel – I certainly wouldn’t describe this as a heavy rock album, but trying to describe exactly what it sounds like isn’t so easy.  I suggest you give the album a listen and see for yourself.

‘Hundred years apart’ will be released on 30th september via Wohone records

Track listing:

1. Riptide
2. Electro
3. We don’t wanna
4. St Ives
5. Once again
6. Unless
7. Circles
8. Yard of blonde girls
9. Far away
10. Falling down
11. Real
12. The woman by the river
13. Eternal love

Band lineup:

Grace Solero: vocals, guitar
Dan Beaulaurier: guitar, vocals
Bjorn Zetterlund: bass
Maurizio Liberato: drums