Grace Sings Sludge – Christ Mocked and the End of a Relationship

After 4 home-recording albums, Grace Cooper enters the studio for a new Grace Sings Sludge album, Christ Mocked and the end of a relationship:

Recorded at El Studio by Phil Manley (Life Coach / Trans Am), mixed and mastered by Mikey Young (Total Control) and released by Empty Cellar Records – home to Coopers’ old band The Sandwitches – the album will be accompanied by a 32-page book of Coopers’ illustrations and lyrics.

“A beautiful and timeless piano ballad from her stellar new LP as Grace Sings Sludge — stunningly austere and intimate”

– Gorilla vs Bear

There has always been a dreamy American gothic sensibility to Coopers’ sound, and on Christ Mocked she continues to lean into this mood and presents us with a collection of deeply felt ballads and stories that have as much in common with Shirley Jackson as they do Karen Dalton or anything we’ve heard from her before.

“Though Cooper says she’s in her “comfort zone with buzzy, shitty sounding stuff,” this album brings out the peculiar beauty of her voice in ways previous DIY affairs didn’t quite capture; threaded with sparse guitar, meandering basslines, or dissonant piano, Christ Mocked is a bit reminiscent of early Cat Power, if Chan Marshall had somehow been more awkward (and obsessed with horror movies, religious iconography, and sketches of nude women).”

– Audio-Femme

Taking the album to the studio has added some polish to Grace Sings Sludge but as these songs and stories intertwine, it’s clear that Cooper is evolving her sound forward in strange and unexpected ways – even putting her own spin on audio drama with The Hackers and Borderlands. This is very much the sound of an artist experimenting and pushing expectations. Beneath the surface of these songs is a lovely mystery; a whelm in the gloom; a hope and a resilience that glow and thrive in the bottomless sea.

“Cooper’s hushed avant-Americana. The song sways with delicate instrumentation and her powerful voice, weaving around the track and soaring without warning. Cooper’s voice is spectacular and full of character, breaking and retreating in ways that push the composition and shift expressions.”

– Post-Trash

Grace Cooper plays all instruments on Christ Mocked, except drums and piano on “Horror for People That Don’t Like Horror” played by Nic Russo/Dick Stusso.

– Glenn McQuaid (Tales From Beyond the Pale)

Track Listing:
1. Christ fucking mocked
2. He is in our hearts
3. Born again wagon
4. The pledge
5. The Hackers
6. Falling in love with him was the most exciting time in my life
7. Friend to All
8. Walnut Creek Death Trip
9. In your arms forever
10. Horror for people that don’t like horror
11. Borderlands
12. It Can Wait.

Order Christ Mocked and the End of a Relationship by Grace Sings Sludge On LP / CD / Download HERE

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