The Texan musician Grace Gardner is a heart on sleeve artist. Her evocative musings are emotionally devastating, pulling at our heart-strings like a master puppeteer and allowing us to bring our walls down to find a place of solace within her words. Her touching words weave a breathtaking narrative that can take you through a raft of experiences. Frustrations about modern society, the anxiety of a relationship, the devastation of loss, and even her anger towards herself, she tackles it all. Today however is a bit different. From the rubble of her first heartbreak Gardner has penned a track that is both a heart-wrenching break up song and a adoring love song because, in her words, “isn’t heartbreak the most vulnerable demonstration of love.”
From the offset Deny Me brings you into an intimate space, the opening line piercing through your heart like a dagger, “I get this twisted and sickening feeling I’m gonna marry you.” The melancholy guitar gently plucks under Gardner’s celestial performance, casting a feeling of utter love and pure despair in one swift swoop. The angelic affair lets the listener project whatever they want to feel onto the song, letting the conversational lyrics express their own pain or the adoration they have for the person they love most. It’s perfect for late night crying sessions and whilst her voice, guitar and overall production are hypnotic, it’s the lyrics that steal the show. Whether it be the tender, “there’s probably delirium in that but i’m wearing your hat that i’ve never seen you lend,” or the gut wrenching, “I hope you turn me down because my hopes are higher than they’ve ever been,” she paints a vivid picture for you.
As far as songwriting goes, Grace Gardner is a blossoming talent who’s unfiltered songwriting will likely soundtrack a generation of love and heartbreak.