New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Rising Australian star Grace Cummings has released "Common Man," the second track taken from her upcoming album Ramona (out April 5th via ATO Records).
The bluesy, Western-infused track boasts powerful vocals from Grace while grappling with her desire to be more than the common man. The accompanying visualizer is compiled of nostalgia-inducing Western film clips, curating an immaculate retro country vibe.
Of the song, Grace says "This song is about being a colorful bird and never, ever wanting to be a pigeon. Somebody I used to know wrote a song called common man about working nine to five and coming home and having a cup of tea and going to bed and it made me want to have a fing panic attack. I wish I could tell people it was about riding off into the distance on the back of a white horse with a Cowboy in Austin Texas, but it's not."
In addition to the new song, Grace has announced a U.S. tour that kicks off in May with stops in Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Brooklyn and more along with her debut at Shaky Knees Festival in Atlanta. Last month Grace unveiled the first track from Ramona - "On And On" along with a hauntingly beautiful video.
Also an accomplished stage actor, Cummings imbues all of Ramona with an unbridled theatricality - an element on glorious display in the album's title track. "I wrote that at a time when I wasn't doing well and had the sense that other people saw me as a weak little bird," says Cummings, who mined inspiration from Bob Dylan's 1964 song "To Ramona." "I didn't want to be myself so I decided to be Ramona instead, full of intensity and melodrama. For me there's a lot of safety in putting on a costume or a mask; sometimes it feels like the only way to express any true honesty or vulnerability."
Cummings hopes that Ramona might provide her audience with a similar sense of relief and release. "A lot of the time the only way for me to process what's happening in my life is to write about it," she says. "So it's a deeply personal record. But I hope that people come away from this album feeling like the songs were written just for them. Because they were, in a way. Watching the deeply personal evolve into something that's shared by so many different people makes me feel less lonely in this world."
UPCOMING TOUR DATES:
Wed Feb 14 - Melbourne Recital Centre (Solo) (with Calexico) - Melbourne, AUS
Thu Feb 15 - Melbourne Recital Centre (Solo) (with Calexico) - Melbourne, AUS
Fri Feb 16 - Theatre Royal (Solo) (with Calexico) - Castlemaine, AUS
Fri Feb 23 - The Nightcat - Melbourne, AUS
Fri Mar 1 - Stranded Bar -- Brisbane, AUS
Sat Mar 2 - The Lansdowne - Sydney, AUS
Wed May 1 - Gold Diggers - Los Angeles, CA
Sat May 4 - Shaky Knees Music Festival - Atlanta, GA
Sun May 5 - Cat's Cradle Back Room - Carrboro, NC
Tue May 7 - DC9 - Washington, DC
Wed May 8 - Arden Gild Hall - Wilmington, DE
Thu May 9 - Public Records - Brooklyn, NY
Wed May 15 - Forest National - Brussels Belgium *
Thu May 16 - Stadthalle - Offenbach, Germany *
Sat May 18 - Forum Karlin - Prague, Czechia *
Sun May 19 - Arena Wien - Vienna, Austria *
Mon May 20 - Columbiahalle - Berlin, Germany *
Tue May 21 - Kantine am Berghain - Berlin, Germany
Thu May 23 - AFAS Live - Amsterdam, Netherlands *
Fri May 24 - 100 Club - London, United Kingdom
Sun May 26 - Olympia - Liverpool, United Kingdom *
Mon May 27 - Usher Hall - Edinburgh, United Kingdom *
Wed May 29 - Civic Halls - Wolverhampton, United Kingdom *
Thu May 30 - Bristol Beacon - Bristol, United Kingdom *
Fri May 31 - Brighton Dome - Brighton, United Kingdom *
Sun Jun 2 - Maifeld Derby - Mannheim, Germany
Mon Jun 3 - Import Export - Munich, Germany
Tue Jun 4 - Unaltrofestival @ Circolo Magnolia - Milan, Italy *
Fri Jun 7 - La Boule Noire - Paris, France
Wed Jun 12 - Bergenfest - Bergen, Norway
*King Gizzard Support.
