You might be familiar with Sally Grayson’s name due to her collaborations with The Blamed–lending her vocal cords on their cover of the scaterd-few classic “U” (for their Quarantine Days project), or for her contributions to “Away in a Manger” on 2020’s Christmas album. The scaterd-few cover is where I first became familiar with her work.
Or you might recognize her from her Ted Talk on creativity (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ia2ldxK2rF0), or as a member of post-punk outfit Black Swift. Or perhaps you’ve been lucky enough to catch her on tour with two other femmes de puissance Tess Wiley (solo/Splendora/Phantasmic/ex-Sixpence None the Richer) and Kat Jones.
Or perhaps you are hearing about her for the first time . . . Whatever it was, collaboration seems to be a theme for Ms Grayson. When coronavirus hit, rather than sitting back and doing nothing, Sally took on a project called “Sonic Fever,” a series of artistic and musical collaborations, often international. Her latest installment in the sequence is simply called “Now,” and it releases today–talk about fresh!
The idea for the song started when Grayson saw an Instagram post from like-minded collaborative drummer Elise Trouw offering what were essentially open-source drum tracks. The songwriter took one of the drum loops and wrote “Now” with just her voice and acoustic guitar. As the song evolved, she asked secular no wave/noise rock guitarist Weasel Walter (of Lydia Lunch fame) to join in. The song was rounded out with keyboards by a musician incredibly relevant to our scene, but who appears under a pseudonym–I assume for legal and/or copyright reasons. As to the musician’s true identity, correct guesses in the comments (below) will be awarded serious scene points. (CLUE: he makes a cameo appearance in the video!)
All proceeds from sales of the track go to the depression-oriented charity To Write Love on Her Arms. Get to downloading! To access the fundraiser, go to Sally’s Instagram account, found here: https://www.instagram.com/sallyjgrayson/?fbclid=IwAR1Eu6ndpO5vOLarrdjpluwdROWjmAa-tfQBDO2nP1wQAmP1eKQqYEZ1JJA