Grace Joyner is an emerging Charleston, SC-based singer/songwriter, who has spent the bulk of her career as a harmony and backing singer for several bands in and around the Low Country. Back in 2014, Joyner stepped out into the spotlight as a solo artist with the release of her debut EP, Young Fools, an effort that found her reflecting on a difficult yet important time in her own life — and that naturally inspired her own original songwriting, “I think there is something valuable in admitting your mistakes, as well as recognizing the power within you to leave them behind. Somewhere in the middle of learning that getting hurt does not make you weak, I started the healing process — I started writing music,” Joyner said at the time.
Joyner’s full-length debt, 2016’s Wolfgang Zimmerman-produced Maybe Sometimes in C wound up being a way for the Charleston-based singer/songwriter to further define her musical perspective and showcase her maturation and growth as a songwriter, with the material thematically focusing on moving from heartbreak and into a place of independence and self-assurance. Joyner’s sophomore album Settle In continues her ongoing collaboration with Zimmerman but while reportedly finding her taking bigger creative risks: the material explores more personal topics, including her romantic failures, her family and her relationship to her career. “I took my time with Settle In. This record covers a lot of ground for me. I took bigger risks in my songwriting process and pushed personal boundaries by exploring content around my romantic struggles, my family, and my relationship with the pursuit of music itself,” Joyner explains in press notes. ” But, ultimately, you can’t choose what or who you love, and if you don’t give it a fair shot you might never know what could have been.”
Now, as you may recall, last month I wrote about the shimmering Stevie Nicks and Sylvan Esso-like “Fake Girlfriend,” which found Joyner and Zimmerman crafting ambitious yet accessible disco-influenced dream pop. “Hung The Moon,” Settle In‘s latest single is a slow-bending track centered around a sinuous bass line, shimmering synth arpeggios, Joyner’s plaintive and yearning vocals paired with an enormous track. And while being a remarkably cinematic track, the song focuses on an important and intimate moment in one’s life: the recognition that a major romantic relationship is at a cross roads and that you have to make an uncomfortable decision. “Production wise, this was one of the first songs we recorded and it is an example of how exploratory I was in the approach to this record,” Joyner adds in press notes.
