Grace Solero – “Hundred Years Apart”

Possibly a new name to you, Grace Solero are a band not short on talent – with singer/guitarist Grace possessing a raw and visceral voice with a staggering range coupled with a presence and poise as a performer that clearly indicates her past training as a gymnast and dancer. This star quality is matched by California born/London based lead guitarist Dan Beaulaurier – whose style mixes the technical with a real soul. The pair first met whilst working on a London production of Oscar Wilde’s “Salome” and since that first meeting have been producing beguiling, otherworldly sounds. The debut album “New Moon” saw them with an album packing enough fury and force to hold it’s own in the heavy rock realm whilst introducing elegant and exotic elements that hinted that there was far more to come.

Second album “Hundred Years Apart” (released at the end of September on Wohone Records) follows hot on the heals of the first release and hears Grace Solero’s core creative duo make a huge leap forward. Having grown in both experience and confidence, Grace and Dan now fully embrace the full breadth of their eclectic influences to deliver a breath-taking album with a very unique character.

By turns grand and understated, “Hundred Years Apart” showcases a band that know when to apply full force, bracing blasts of gritty noise and, equally, how to how listeners in thrall to the subtleties of a single, sustained note or well-placed seconds silence. When at their most soniclly abrasive Grace Solero tap into the emotional intensity and light/dark dynamics that distinguished the most intriguing exponents of grunge – hints ofSoundgarden in the tense, tightly wound guitar lines of “Falling Down” which bloom into a soaring centrepiece hook. “St. Ives” has a blend of ferocity and fragility that echoes the spirit of Smashing Pumpkins.

With a nod to the intricacy and audacity of Muse’s approach to stadium rock on the manic “Circles” – Grace gulps air and swoops between the poles of her vocal range to keep pace with the dizzy and dazzling display of Dan’s guitar work. The polar opposite to “Circles” is found in the brittle and bare “The Woman by the River”, where Grace gives a performance showing astonishing technical confidence whilst affecting a convincing vulnerability. This, along with their stunning cover of “Yard of Blonde Girls”, makes plain why the comparisons to Jeff Buckley have been fully deserved.

With Grace’s vocals very similar to a 21st Century hybrid of Alanis Morrisette, PJ Harvey and Skunk Anansie’s Skin, “Hundred Years Apart” reinforces the notion that her voice truly belongs in such company whilst clearly and very strongly defining a style all of her own.

Perfect timing allows youguys to catch the power and might of Grace Solero’s live show as they tour in support of “Hundred Years Apart” across the UK (and Rock-Zone UK will be seeing them play at our favourite venue, Bolton’s Railway Venue.

Friday, 1st November – Nuneaton, Queens Hall
Saturday, 2nd November – Sheffield, Dove and Rainbow
Sunday’ 3rd November – Bolton, Railway Venue

For more information: www.gracesolero.com

Photos of band and Grace courtesy of Imelda Michalczyk – www.rebeladelica.com