Gena Rose Bruce releases her album, Deep Is The Way, and announces a UK tour for May, shares a video for "Destroy Myself".
Cementing herself in the upper echelons of Australian singer-songwriters, Gena Rose Bruce navigates emotional turmoil, fragility, death and honesty on Deep Is The Way, her second “lovely and affecting record” (MOJO - 4*s), out now via Dot Dash / Remote Control Records.
To coincide with the release, GenaRose Bruce shares a video for the doom-laden “Destroy Myself”, directed by Ryan Downey. With its buzzing synths and chugging guitars, the track sees Bruce reflects on her own dark compulsions.
Bruce will put these themes on show as she traverses the UK for the very first time in May 2023 with the announcement of a five date UK tour which includes a London show at Servant Jazz Quarters on 10 May 2023 - showcasing the live sensibilities picked up on supports for Orville Peck and Kevin Morby in Australia.
Last year a suffocating black fog pursued the Melbourne musician through the night’s depths – a recurring dream 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, processing death and inner turmoil to emerge with a newfound state of strength and resilience. Throughout lockdown Bruce corresponded with the iconic songwriter Bill Callahan, their connection resulting in them writing two songs together, “Foolishly In Love” and the album’s title track, “Deep Is The Way” which also features Callahan and was added to Pitchfork's Selects Playlist and was in the top spot in The Guardian's F&M playlist column.
“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.”
Following the success of her acclaimed Australian Music Prize-nominated debut, Can’t Make You Love Me (NPR All Songs Considered, triple j, Herald Sun), Bruce had international touring planned, including stops in the US for SXSW, the UK and Japan. Then the pandemic flattened Bruce’s months of preparation, doubts about her future and artistic worth crept in. She found herself facing Melbourne’s extended lockdown, in a tiny apartment with a grieving partner, and her career in jeopardy. She began turning inwards and shutting down, even questioning her commitment to her partner. On the baroque, Billie Holiday-inspired track, “I’m Not Made to Love Only You”, Bruce even fantasises about the thrill of new romance with unflinching honesty; and on the album’s dancefloor-ready opening track “Foolishly in Love”, that heat feels palpably close. 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 the unrelenting emotions; but writing only gets you part of the way. It’s only through embracing the strength in her long-term relationship – found on the delicate piano tribute "Love" – and relishing nature's therapeutic qualities through a newfound love of gardening, which she is now studying too, that Bruce has found herself back literally on solid ground. Investing time in life's cycles of renewal and growth gave the album its name, and the context for its pivotal title track. "Working with your hands, in dirt and mud, is just a really beautiful feeling".
Tickets are available here and full live dates are as follows:
1/4/23 - Meadow Festival, Bambra, Australia
8/4/23 - Tanswell's Commercial Hotel, Beechworth, Australia
15/4/23 - Felons Barrel Hall, Brisbane, Australia
16/4/23 - Jet Black Cat In-Store, Brisbane, Australia
20/4/23 - The Vanguard, Sydney, Australia
28/4/23 - The Gaso, Melbourne, Australia
29/4/23 - The Bridge, Castlemaine, Australia
2/5/23 - The Hug & Pint, Glasgow, UK
3/5/23 - Brudenell, Leeds, UK
4/5/23 - Hare & Hounds, Birmingham, UK
7/5/23 - YES Basement, Manchester, UK
9/5/23 - Louisiana, Bristol, UK
10/5/23 - Servant Jazz Quarters, London, UK