Mallrat’s favorite kind of light is a phenomenon that her grandmother used to call “God’s fingers.”
“It’s when little rays peek through clouds or peek through trees, and it’s a really clear beam of light,” says the Australian artist born Grace Shaw. It is, unwittingly, the perfect descriptor of her sophomore album, Light hit my face like a straight right, which arrived in February. Emotionally potent and streaked with celestial synths, Light hit my face like a straight right feels like the consummate modern alt-pop record, teetering on the edge of electronica and hip-hop. After opening for fellow Australian star Kylie Minogue earlier this year, Shaw’s taking her ethereal pop ethos on the road, stopping at Brighton Music Hall on Saturday (May 10).
Ahead of her Allston performance this weekend, we chatted with Shaw about the art of shuffling around verses, what she learned on tour with Minogue, and how her childhood brushes with Irish music and all-girls schools are still impacting her present.
Victoria Wasylak: When I was listening to the record, I was struck by how many different angles it felt like you were able to approach longing and loss from. It felt really fresh the whole time, even though it dealt with the same core emotions. What was your mindset or your approach to get that freshness?
Grace Shaw: Thank you for saying that. To be honest, when I start writing a song, I’m not sure what I’m writing about, and it’s not set out to be about one thing in particular. It’s kind of like chasing an interesting image or feeling, and usually those feelings are a few different contradicting emotions layered on top of each other. I think it’s probably because I’m not setting out to tell the same story — or even a very specific, clear story from the get-go, [I’m] kind of just following what feels interesting to me as I’m making the songs.
So the alignment, then, is kind of subconscious?
Subconscious, yeah.
You had commented that “Something For Somebody“ was the song on the record that you’re most proud of, and that you spent days rewriting it. Typically when you’re working on songs, is there feeling or a way that you know a song is done? I think with anything regarding writing, it’s hard to feel like it’s at its optimal state, you know? You could always go back and do more.
Definitely. Yes, I so know what you mean. It’s difficult sometimes to stop tinkering on all the little details. The reason that I’m so proud of it and put so much effort into it was because I knew that it had the potential to be a song with a twist at the end, or with a double meaning throughout the whole thing. I haven’t written like that in such a concentrated way before. I really wanted to do it well and I wrote a lot of verses, and I just spent a lot of time really trying to flesh out that idea.
I wrote lots and lots of verses, and I think I just knew it was done because I had tried every possible combination of them all, and I landed on the best one. But usually, a song gets to a pretty good place, and then I listen, and five things jump out that I wanna change — and then I change them, and then I listen, and then three things jump out that I wanna change, and then listen again, this time there are 10 things. And eventually, there are zero things that I wanna tweak about it. But it’s also a bit of gut feeling as well. There’s not, like, a thing that happens every time where it’s a definitively clear, finished song,
Talking about going back and changing these things that stand out every time — is that frustrating, or is that a labor of love part of the process for you?
Ooh, it’s usually fun. It’s like a puzzle. Sometimes it’s frustrating, but only after, like, 80 hours or something. [laughs] It’s usually really fun and a good problem-solving activity. And usually with those parts of the process, I’m with a really trusted producer, so we tackle it together.
You have an appreciation for traditional Irish music, which kinda shines through on “Virtue.” What about that style of music really draws you to it and is attractive to you? Can you tell me a little bit more about your relationship with it?
I think I first started hearing traditional Irish music when I was a kid and my grandparents would look after me. They would play it a lot, and we’d always watch Riverdance together. So that was my first introduction, and you know, when you listen to something as a kid, it kind of is locked away in some special part of your brain, and it always feels really crazy to hear it again when you’re older.
In the last few years, I personally revisited it, because I was going down a YouTube wormhole of choirs, ’cause I love watching choir videos. I found the University of Dublin Choir, and I became super obsessed. Maybe because the way that I listen to it is often a choral arrangement, and I love listening to choirs. But also, actually, there are some things about it that have changed the way that I write melodies. For example, the melodies are usually really winding melodies in a major pentatonic key, which is not something you hear every day. I think I just really love it, and it’s affected how I write music.
What was your biggest takeaway from opening for Kylie Minogue, and were you a fan of hers beforehand?
Yeah, I was definitely a big fan. I think the biggest takeaway was two things. One, that you can be an artist of that level and still have a great crew around you and be really warm and welcoming and kind, ’cause that was our experience as the support act. It’s just nice to be reminded that you can do that at any level.
The other thing was — watching her show every night was so much fun, and I particularly admired her strut. She had a really good walk, and the way that when she was still on stage, she would really hold that and command the room with it. That’s something that I wanna get better at.
On “Hideaway,” the line about missing someone when it’s time to go on tour stood out to me. When it comes to performing material that is emotionally heavy or complicated, that’s a very tough thing to do every single night in front of new people. How did you prepare for that? What brings you the fortitude that you need to revisit those more difficult head spaces and emotions?
That’s really interesting. Usually, I kind of tell myself that I don’t really care or connect with those feelings when I’m performing. But actually I don’t think that that’s completely true, because there are certainly some songs where I feel really naked when I’m singing them.
It definitely is taxing in its own way, but honestly the most taxing thing about tour isn’t that. It’s just not sleeping a lot, and being in a van a lot and doing a lot of driving. So the emotional stuff takes a backseat to the physical tiredness I think.
You went to an all-girl parochial school — so did I, it’s a very unique experience. Do you feel like it changed you or your outlook on life? I do find people have really strong opinions about what it was like.
Super interesting question. To be honest, the school that I went to was really cute. I had a really cute sense of community, and so it definitely wasn’t one of those horror stories you hear about, people going to religious schools. I would say it was overwhelmingly quite positive, and also because my family dabbles in Catholicism [laughs]. It’s funny, they’ll go to church, like, every week for six months or something and then they won’t go for a long time, but it’s something that’s kind of always been floating around the house.
I do have a little bit of a soft spot for some of the stuff that goes with that. And also, I actually today still an kinda dressing like I’m at a Catholic all-girls school, I think it’s a pretty awesome uniform — the high socks and the pleated skirt and the button-up shirt. Yeah, honestly, I had a not-too-bad experience.
MALLRAT + ANNA SHOEMAKER :: Saturday, May 10 at Brighton Music Hall, 158 Brighton Ave. in Allston, MA :: 7 p.m., all ages, $35 and up :: Event Info :: Advance tickets