Isaac Gracie – Isaac Gracie

Alternative Folk | Indie Rock

53%

Much like the old adage “a person may be smart, but people are stupid”, while everyone I know that works in music is lovely, it’s fair to say that the “music industry” as a whole is far from it. One of the industry’s greatest flaws is the need to be the first to spot new talent. Gone are the old days, when you’d risk your reputation to laud a new artist that you loved, instead the industry now do everything they can to force success and become a self-fulfilling prophecy. In the end it’s like everyone saying the dark horse of the race at 100-1 is their pick to win when they know damn well the race is rigged. If everyone places the same bet then the odds mean nothing and there’s no reward at the end.

What does this rambling have to do with Isaac Gracie? The fact is that he has been the single most talked about new artist in many years. His raw, stripped back early releases like ‘Last Words’ and ‘Terrified’ were truly something to behold. There was an electricity in the air, an old world feel, a sense that there was nothing else in the world but his voice. It’s no wonder that people got so excited and caught up in what this immensely talented artist had to offer, but the versions of those tracks found here have none of that magic. It’s overproduced and lifeless, lacking the lo-fi charm that made him so widely talked about in the first place. I’m a huge fan of Isaac’s but this record is a poor representation of true talents. He shines through the cracks somewhat on ‘When You Go’ and ‘All In My Mind’, but for the most part this album plays like a mass-produced replica of a great work of art. Dig out his early work instead to really see him at his best.