Texas-based indie-folk artist Grace Gardner released her second single “Deny Me” October 28th. From start to finish the track is beautifully produced, introspective, and heart-wrenching. The song is a phenomenal display of Gardner’s talents and deep understanding of storytelling through her lyrics.
Comparable to the likes of Lizzy McAlpine and Laufey, Gardner’s new track emanates that same painstaking lyricism but makes it her own. The lyrics are immaculate, gut-wrenching, and agonizing in all of the best ways. A standout lyric is “I've got a death grip on some day/ Maybe it's got me the other way round/ Do me a favor and let me down/ Will you deny me?” The lyric describes that agonizing waiting and hoping you experience as you wish for that one person to notice you.
The song toes the line between harrowing heartbreak and aching love that very few people can pull off but Gardner does so immaculately. The opening lines immediately set the tone for the song “I get this twisted and sickening feeling/ I’m gonna marry you/ it sits like a rock in my stomach/ a drop off a summit and some tourist is blocking the view.” This is a song geared toward the hopeless romantics and love-sick people out there that despite everything will still believe that person is the right one for them.
Whilst Gardner’s voice is soft and soulful; she also has this great ability to convey emotions through it. There is this painstaking wanting and hopeful pining in her vocal performance especially in the chorus as she sings “I’m hoping you wanted to be amused/ Or be amused by me/ You wouldn’t get used by me/ I’ll finally have something to lose/ So let's truce and get through/ Will you deny me?”
Aside from the agonizing lyricism, the instrumentation of the song is also layered and mesmerizing. The instrumentation features a plucky guitar and enthralling violins that mesh with Gardner’s breathy vocalization. Between the first chorus and second verse, there is this beautiful moment where Gardner’s vocalization and the violin piece flow together so harmoniously that Gardner becomes the instrumentation. The climax of the song is the bridge which features multiple layers of Gardner’s vocals layered on top of one another and the violin piece becomes far more dreamy and purposeful– moving through the story that Gardner is telling in her lyrics “I fell in love with a girl/ Who made me get out of bed in the morning/ It wasn’t by force/ Something about her made me feel wanted.”
Considering this is only Gardner’s second release she has already found a perfectly fitting niche– agonizing lyrics and dreamy string accompaniment. I urge everyone who is reeling over a lost love or needs a little bit of heartache to listen to “Deny Me.”
Published via Returner Magazine
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