One of the reasons why this website is devoted (mainly) to Australian country music is because there is so much wonderful music being created by Australian artists that there is always something new worth listening to and covering. In over eight years of writing about it, there’s never been a lack of material. Each week brings something beautiful – and in the past week it’s been the song ‘Seasons’ by The New Graces.
The New Graces is the combination of the considerable talents of Melanie Horsnell, Kate Burke and Robyn Martin, who each have solo careers and/or bands in their musical pasts. Their harmonies on ‘Seasons’ are strong and cohesive while still showing their distinct identities, suggesting that each brings something distinctive to this band.
The song is a tale of two people who are trying to make it work on the land. The chorus reveals the hardship but also the joy to be found in that life, if can you submit to the seasons instead of fighting them – ‘If you can stand the summer and if the rain falls in the winter/If you hold your ground when the hot northerly blows/When the sea birds land at Lake Eyre that will be another good year/You’ll see the beauty that the seasons hold’. There is no romanticising of life on the land here; instead, the song is, in its way, a tribute to those who dedicate themselves to those seasons and the unpredictability they can mean.
‘Seasons’ is taken from The New Graces’ forthcoming album of the same name, which will be released on 15 May 2020.
Preorder the album on Bandcamp
Listen to ‘Seasons’ on:
Apple Music | iTunes | Spotify