| Melbourne-based singer-songwriter Gena Rose Bruce, today announces the release of her sophomore album Deep Is The Way, on 27 January 2023 via Dot Dash / Remote Control Records. The follow-up to her 2019 Australian Music Prize-nominated debut, Can’t Make You Love Me, is again produced by Tim Harvey and is a record of dark introspection punctuated by the brightness of self-acceptance, and startling guitar excursions that articulate the present moment’s roiling emotions. It’s a complex album – devastating, jaunty, heavy and besotted. Gena Rose Bruce also shares the album’s beautiful and evocative lead single and title track, co-written by, and featuring, the iconic singer-songwriter Bill Callahan. This follows the release of the whirling single – another co-write with Callahan – ‘Foolishly In Love’. On the collaboration, Bruce says “Working with Bill was very poetic and brought a feeling of nostalgia. We have only ever had written correspondence, sending lyrics back and forth to each other, with sometimes weeks in between responses, just analysing lyrics, there was no small talk, just keeping it about what’s important – the music.“ About the new single ‘Deep Is The Way’, Bruce said “I think it can sometimes be overwhelming trying to find your place or ‘your thing’ in life. This song really is a dedication for those people who may be slower in finding themselves, who like to dream, think deeply and take their time to make decisions, for them to appreciate and honour their thoughtful process. Not everyone has to keep up with this unachievably fast and competitive world.” ‘Deep Is The Way‘ comes accompanied by a video directed by Alex Badham, a student of the legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog. The short film was shot during the pandemic in Europe and Australia and features empty, lonely spaces, but as it progresses, it pans out to wider landscapes offering a feeling of comfort and hope. On this feeling, Badham says “I totally fell in love with this song, having had some clichéd romantic moments listening to it whilst wandering the rainy streets of Berlin. I wanted to incorporate some of the seedy city vibe in the video. I had lots of travel going on and Gena had the idea of utilising this opportunity to make a slow and dreamy collection of empty spaces. I was lucky enough to visit some interesting and varied places over this period, Tenerife particularly has some amazing spots in such a tiny land mass – lush forests, black beaches and volcanic moonscapes. I also went into quite a few Berlin bars, asking on the spot if I could get a shot (with my camera) and a shot (of booze) and accidentally got a little shitfaced at times, oops. I’m pleasantly surprised by how emotionally moving it turned out, given how simple it is – a fairly straightforward concept about escaping the city and exploring the world outside.” Last year a suffocating black fog pursued Gena Rose Bruce through the night’s depths – a recurring dream wraith brought on by the passing of her partner’s mother and pandemic instability. Deep Is The Way chronicles Bruce’s fraught path back into the light, as she processes death and inner turmoil to emerge with a newfound state of strength and resilience. Following the success of her debut in Australia, Bruce had international touring planned, including stops in the US for SXSW Music Festival, the UK and Japan. But her last stores of adrenaline were running dry as she attempted to balance her career with trips to Israel to support her partner. During Melbourne’s extended lockdown, which was one of the longest in the world, Bruce found herself in a tiny apartment with a grieving partner, and her career in jeopardy. She began turning inwards and shutting down around friends and family. Her close relationships felt laboured and her responses in social interactions insincere. She even began questioning her commitment to her partner. These anxieties bubbled over into fantasies about the thrill of new romance with unflinching honesty on the dance-floor ready track, ‘Foolishly In Love‘. “I was asking myself: ‘am I meant for one sort of relationship?’,” says Bruce. “I think it’s an important question to ask, to really just have a frank conversation about those feelings.” Housebound, with the claustrophobia of lockdown setting in, Bruce began identifying with characters in the books she was reading, like April Wheeler in Revolutionary Road, with ambitions dampened by domesticity. Bruce’s journey inward led her to seminal psychoanalytical texts, including Sigmund Freud’s Civilization and Its Discontents, in which he continues his exploration of humanity’s self-destructive tendencies. Deep Is The Way is Bruce’s outlet for those emotions; but writing only gets you part of the way. It’s only through professional help and embracing the strength in her long-term relationship – found on the delicate piano tribute ‘Love‘, and on ‘Harsh Light‘, with its jagged Crowded House-like guitars and post Paul McCartney swing – that Bruce has found herself back literally on solid ground. In the absence of touring, she has relished nature’s therapeutic qualities, through her newfound love of gardening, which she’s now studying too. Investing time in life’s cycles of renewal and growth gave Deep Is The Way its name, and the context for its pivotal title track. “Sometimes you don’t know why plants die, it can be so many things,” says Bruce. “Gardening just feels like going back to simple things. Working with your hands, in dirt and mud, is just a really beautiful feeling.” Now, Bruce is content in her artistry: happy to dream, and relinquish herself to the whims of time and circumstance, rather than fight the tide. On the Electric Light Orchestra-inspired ‘I’d Rather Be a Dreamer‘ she bucks society’s measure of success, instead finding contentment in her own creations and inner-strength, the dirt below and the stars above.Pre-order / Pre-save Deep Is The Way: https://genarosebruce.lnk.to/deepistheway-lp |
| Gena Rose Bruce feat. Bill Callahan – ‘Deep Is The Way’ (Official Video) Purchase / Stream: https://genarosebruce.lnk.to/deepistheway |
