Frances Grass releases debut EP ‘Thirlestane Road’ on Home Alone
After a five year hiatus from performing while overseas, Aotearoa born Frances Grass returned home to record and now release her debut EP, Thirlestane Road on Te Whanganui-a-Tara indie label Home Alone (home to French for Rabbits, Tessa de Lyon, and Michaela Tempers).
Thirlestane Road is out now and features singles Free and Blue Cheese.
Frances Grass started writing and performing at age 14. After returning from her overseas journey, she began reconnecting with her roots, which highlighted the need to put out some of the music she’s been hoarding. They were brought to life in a friend Shaun Blackwell’s (Hemi Hemingway) home studio with a cast of warm, off-kilter instruments – flute, double bass, slide guitar and stacked harmonies that bend and bloom over intricate fingerpicking melodies. The EP was mastered by Ben Lemi (Trinity Roots, Vera Ellen). Inspired by 60s folk icons like Joni Mitchell, Donovan, and Nick Drake, this five-track journey slips between tenderness, wit and raw vulnerability.
The title track where the EP gets its name, is short and stripped back, a quiet confession that love isn’t always enough, told in a few soft strums and fewer words. From there, the EP moves into deeper catharsis – burying the remains of a broken relationship and letting them decay with dignity. Just when things get heavy, track three bursts in like a grinning guest at a wake: an upbeat, pun-packed ode to cheese that leans into its own delicious absurdity. Then comes the anxious arrival – late to the party, full of social dread, yet funny in its surreal honesty. Finally the closing track lands like a bittersweet sigh, confronting the ache of being loved too little, too late – and realizing what you gave may have been wasted.
Thirlestane Road is out Friday 11 July on streaming platforms and for digital download on Bandcamp.
Photo Credit: Phoebe Lysbeth Kay
