Demos

Sarah Grace - Come Fly

Nick Lewis 27/07/2009

Rating: 2/5

Sarah Grace 'won' www.slicethepie.com and was given £15,000 to make an album. This is the lead single from the resulting record. As she was given her funding by public vote, this is perhaps the ultimate signal of what the internet democratization of music really means; what happens when record labels are bypassed and fans are given just what they want.


Q: So what do they want?


A: Something really nice.


To summarise her sound is perhaps best done by listing some of her top myspace friends: John Mayer, Jack JohnsonM and Ray LaMontagne. It's all acoustic guitars and sunny, unadventurous melodies/structures/rhythms/harmonies/instrumentation. She has a lovely, if unremarkable voice, occasionally sounding just like Norah Jones. The songs are instantly forgettable but I don't imagine anyone will complain much while they're on. There's not an awful lot you can fault with this: the production is great, the b-side Cry Me to Sleep features some charming hammond organ and mournful trumpets and it's all just very pleasant. I imagine some day she'll make an awful lot of money licensing her songs to The O.C., or whatever it is teenage girls watch these days.

So as it turns out, when you get rid of the record label and let the public decide what they want, they just want to hear what they always wanted to: something nice and pretty. And fair enough.

Release date: 27.07.09