There’s a point where exhaustion stops feeling dramatic and simply becomes numb, and that is where Grace Woodroofe steps in as her latest single captures that place, as she offers deeper push into the story she began on Rotate on the Ache (Part 1).
Inspired by the heavier edges of various other artists, Grace’s latest track doesn’t showcase someone reaching their limit as it recreates the sensation from inside their head. Distorted guitars and pounding drums become increasingly oppressive, while Grace’s detached vocal sits in the middle of the noise like someone too depleted to fight against it.
Those vocals are what also gives the song its weight, as Grace originally recorded it while slouched on a studio couch, microphone in hand, and later attempts to capture a cleaner performance couldn’t match the original demo. However, keeping that first take feels important because this song isn’t supposed to sound composed.
There’s a hypnotic, almost underwater quality to the production, as though everything is getting heavier and further away while the guitars continue closing in around this song. The contrast between the force of the band and Grace’s exhausted delivery communicates more than a technically perfect vocal probably could.
I’d be remiss to overlook the fact that this song is particularly confronting, as we’re hearing some of Grace’s emotional wreckage, and there is no rush to package that experience into an inspirational recovery story or pretend every difficult moment immediately teaches us something useful. Sometimes you’re simply stuck inside it, trying to make sense of what happened. That is what this song does really well.
