Words + Photos by LUIS MORENO
LOS ANGELES – Grace Cummings is the latest artist from Australia who’s on the rise and should keep rising. She’s on tour promoting her latest album Storm Queen released last January.
Without a word, Grace and her band walked on the stage and picked up the tools of their trade and started sending out sonic waves.
The first notable strength about Grace is her voice. It flows between smooth and glassy to rough and ready. Just to give a small but large note, Grace’s style and depth of music reminds me of Grace Slick with Jefferson Airplane, but with a fuller tone. What matches Grace’s voice…. is her songwriting, which is reminiscent of 60s folk rock.
Between songs, Grace would sip on some whiskey and regale us with stories about an Aussie game called Poker Dice. Yes, Poker played with Dice! And apparently, she’s lost a bit of money playing. She also told us how on tour she’s discovered British, and Americans views on Australia. Let’s just say I hope she was joking. I love the Aussies …Oy, Oy, Oy!
To slow down the intensity of her set Grace sat down at the piano and let the audience breathe for a moment with a White Stripe song. I’ll let you discover it yourself, should you be lucky enough to catch one of her shows on tour.
Grace would finish the evening with two songs off the album Storm Queen, the title track and “Heaven”.
What I learned and enjoyed about Grace Cummings is she’s filled with emotion, beauty, soul, and a strong presence on stage. Grace’s career should keep rising and pulling the “Down Under” up.
