Grace Cummings releases album title track & video "Ramona" from forthcoming album Ramona out April 5th via Ato Records / [PIAS] & announces tour in the UK with King Gizzard.
Lauded Australian singer-songwriter Grace Cummings has released “Ramona,” the third offering - and title track - from her upcoming album Ramona - out April 5th via ATO Records / [PIAS].
The new song comes with a black and white music video. Brimming with theatricality, her mesmerizing and powerful vocals chronicle a period of Grace’s life where she yearned to be someone else by hiding behind a mask of bravado and melodrama. Grace’s immense talent bleeds into every note of this impressive track, a nod to Dylan’s “To Ramona” which she utilized as a guiding light for her artistic sensibilities.
Of the song, Grace says,
“This song makes reference to two of the most momentous songs in my life, Bob Dylan’s “To Ramona” and The Wizard of Oz’s “If I were King of the Forest.”
It’s about putting on a mask to become brave and true. I have spent a lot of time living in my own little world, because I have been quite scared of the real one. I have spent much of my life believing that I deserved to be unhappy.
I became a weak little bird who didn’t know who she was and at times I was so unwell that I didn’t even think I wanted to be in the world anymore.
I hated what I saw in the mirror and I wanted to be somebody else. That’s what “Ramona” is about.”
This spring, Grace will be embarking on a U.S. tour that kicks off in May with stops in Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Brooklyn and more along with her debut at Shaky Knees Festival in Atlanta.
In January Grace unveiled the first track from Ramona - “On And On”- along with a hauntingly beautiful video and, just last month, revealed a charming visualizer for the track “Common Man”.
Also an accomplished stage actor, Cummings imbues all of Ramona with an unbridled theatricality—an element on glorious display in the album’s title track.
“I wrote that at a time when I wasn’t doing well and had the sense that other people saw me as a weak little bird,”
says Cummings, who mined inspiration from Bob Dylan’s 1964 song “To Ramona.”
“I didn’t want to be myself so I decided to be Ramona instead, full of intensity and melodrama. For me there’s a lot of safety in putting on a costume or a mask; sometimes it feels like the only way to express any true honesty or vulnerability.”
TOUR DATES
Wed May 1 - Gold Diggers - Los Angeles, CA
Sat May 4 - Shaky Knees Music Festival - Atlanta, GA
Sun May 5 - Cat’s Cradle Back Room - Carrboro, NC
Tue May 7 - DC9 - Washington, DC
Wed May 8 - Arden Gild Hall - Wilmington, DE
Thu May 9 - Public Records - Brooklyn, NY
Wed May 15 - Forest National - Brussels Belgium
Thu May 16 – Stadthalle - Offenbach, Germany
Sat May 18 - Forum Karlin - Prague, Czechia Sun
May 19 - Arena Wien - Vienna, Austria
Mon May 20 – Columbiahalle - Berlin, Germany
Tue May 21 - Kantine am Berghain – Berlin, Germany
Thu May 23 - AFAS Live - Amsterdam, Netherlands
Fri May 24 - The Lexington – London, United Kingdom
Sat May 25 - Wide Awake - London, United Kingdom
Sun May 26 – Olympia - Liverpool, United Kingdom
Mon May 27 - Usher Hall - Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Wed May 29 - Civic Halls - Wolverhampton, United Kingdom
Thu May 30 - Bristol Beacon - Bristol, United Kingdom
Fri May 31 - Brighton Dome - Brighton, United Kingdom
Sun Jun 2 - Maifeld Derby – Mannheim, Germany
Mon Jun 3 - Import Export – Munich, Germany
Tue Jun 4 - Unaltrofestival @ Circolo Magnolia - Milan, Italy
Fri Jun 7 - La Boule Noire – Paris, FranceSat
Jun 8 - Best Kept Secret - Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands
Wed Jun 12 – Bergenfest – Bergen, Norway
*with King Gizzard
tickets HERE.