Gracie and Rachel are a study in duality: light and dark, classical leanings with a pop sensibility, Californians in New York. On their 2017 debut full-length, Gracie and Rachel pit anxiety and tension against an almost serene self-assurance. The duo announced the album via NPR alongside the introspective video premiere for Only A Child. The self-titled record quickly won the hearts of NPR fans who voted them to #4 on NPR’s Your Favorite New Artist, with Bob Boilen describing the music as having “a terrific tension in the sound, an underpinning of mystery set against a baroque, but modern, pop foreground.” The duo has since recorded an NPR Tiny Desk Concert and was named to NPR 100 Best Songs of 2017, Bob Boilen’s Top 10 Albums of 2017 and Slingshot 2018, public radio’s artist incubator program for emerging artists.
With forthcoming music releasing over the next several months on Righteous Babe Records (which will include their much-anticipated sophomore album), Gracie and Rachel’s new work explores the depths of their emotional states and the walls we build up inside ourselves, asking us to break them all down in order to face our truths. It’s music to excavate our inner fears and help us find the empowerment from within.
Their music is a compelling juxtaposition of Gracie’s piano and lead vocals and Rachel’s violin and voice, augmented with stark percussion. With music rooted in the truth —their truth — but retaining an enigmatic air, Gracie and Rachel craft songs which make them relatable to anyone who has ever found their heart racing with doubt and pushed forward regardless or triumphed in subverting expectations imposed from within. Seen on stages with Ani DiFranco, Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus, Joseph, and San Fermin, the live experience displays a passionate, tangible quality to their deeply rooted bond, an intimate connection that is vibrantly apparent on stage and equally imprinted on their record.
