Unabashedly emotional, eclectic and full of the mortal notions of risk, love and loss – Grace Vandals delivers you into a rich and gritty world of sound, coated in an unexpected outer layer of tenderness. Her upcoming debut release, ‘What Can I Burn Here?’, invites you into a melting pot of Indie rock and folk influences, replete with visceral imagery, prickly emotions, ugly truths and childlike curiosity. Drawing inspiration from the illustrious creative minds of Jeff Buckley, Patti Smith and the like, Vandals and her band share an open desire for unravelling perfection and embracing the unusual. Liberation to dive deep, explore sounds, make mistakes and enjoy the process is what drives her to continue in her pursuit of making honest and purposeful music.
Born and raised in the suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia, Grace Vandals is a musician and storyteller raised on the bread and butter of indie rock, folk, jazz and everything nestled in between. A deep curiosity for jazz music and a love of greats such as Sarah Vaughan and Betty Carter led Vandals to study a Bachelor of Jazz Performance at the Elder Conservatorium of Music from 2020-2022. It was during this time that she met her first collaborators and began to write for her first band ‘Tell Mama’. Much of Vandals’ jazz influence can still be heard in the harmonic structure of her songs and vocal qualities. ‘What can I burn Here?’ is a warts-and-all self portrait of a young artist stumbling through discovery of self and what it means to be an artist in the modern world. With raw, weathered and intimate vocals, Vandals lays her stories on a bed of gritty and textured instrumentation. A gentle but firm force, this record belongs in a place with hearts beating, brains dreaming and people healing from dilapidated love.