A wondrous and warm wandering, Núria Graham’s delightful song “Smile on the Grass” and its new visual highlight the artist’s ability to marry conscious and unconscious reflection in both music and thought.
Stream: “Smile on the Grass” – Núria Graham
We’ve all had out-of-body lessons: Experiences that seem to confound at first, but ultimately teach us about ourselves in new and exciting ways. Singer/songwriter Núria Graham’s driving “Smile on the Grass” is one such instance of unexpected self-discovery: Wondrous and warm, the delightful track and its new visual highlight the artist’s ability to marry conscious and unconscious reflection in both music and thought.
You have an angry look
inside your little brown eyes
nature brought us here
with nothing in our hands
he showed you his body in dreams
and you are still ashamed.
You have an angry look
inside your other brown eyes
nature brought us here
with questions in our heads
he showed you his body in dreams
a smile fell on the grass
Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering the music video for “Smile on the Grass,” taken from Núria Graham’s third album Does It Ring a Bell? (released October 27, 2017 via El Segell del Primavera). A Spanish/Irish singer/songwriter calling both the UK and Spain home, Graham’s sweet brand of indie pop is as cinematic as it is intimate: Her 2013 debut First Tracks highlighted her poetic lilt and experimental streak, which ultimately came through even stronger in 2015’s dazzling Bird Eyes. Does It Ring a Bell? is Graham’s most cohesive work yet – a fascinating journey through washed-out guitars and musings on existence and emotion, individuality and separation, and much more.
Don’t say that things don’t change,
that words and meanings are here
to make confusing questions
about the day I left
Don’t say that things don’t change,
that words are better left unsaid,
that I would better manage
life without you, Because I DO!
I DO
“’Smile on the Grass’ is a reflection of different decisions that you make and how you discover that you can be a different person,” Graham tells Atwood Magazine. “I don’t really remember how the title came out, I’m not aware of how I write songs and how the ideas come. I woke up from a crazy night and I was literally smiling on the grass. When I wrote this song I though it was about someone else. After playing this song a lot, I realized that it talks about me and I didn’t know. I guess you have different personalities inside. The whole record talks about this person called Marianne, which is me, but is not actually me. There’s a part of yourself that you never fully understand, and that’s what I try to understand with this song.”
Directed by David Camarero and produced by Vampire Films, the “Smile on the Grass” music video finds the protagonist, portrayed by Graham, searching her world for answers – in this instance, through a hunt for a UFO, or signs thereof. The story begins with her quite literally smiling on the grass, with folks in HAZMAT suits around her, before backtracking to show how she got there. We come to see the frantic drive and the palpable sense of urgency pushing this character forward in her journey. “Smile on the Grass” serves as a fitting soundtrack to this explorative adventure, with Graham’s words appropriately instilling a sense of wonder and anticipation around the unknown.
Part folk, part rock, part pop, and part R&B, Núria Graham’s music defies genre to become something that is as bright as it is dark, as groovy as it is put together, and as deliberative as it is instinctive.
Her music is an ideal soundtrack to the spirit of change permeating the fall, and now is as good a time as any to acquaint ourselves with her art as she preps a fourth album for release next year.
Núria Graham headlines a sold out show at Servant Jazz Quarters in London on 26th November, and recently added a new live date on 30th April at London’s The Lexington as well. Stream “Smile on the Grass” exclusively on Atwood Magazine, and don’t sleep on this exquisite talent!
Stream: “Smile on the Grass” – Núria Graham
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