Brian Eno says that sequencers, because of the way they function, push electronic musicians to work "vertically" on music, i.e. by adding layer upon layer of sounds to a looped bar or two, and then slowly move horizontally to the next section of the arrangement. This is fundamentally different from the typical way songwriters work, consisting in creating first the "horizontal" structure of the song (verse, chrous, etc), and then focusing on the arrangement. From this perspective, NYC electronic artist Gracie sounds actually like a singer-songwriter, his songs flowing effortlessly from verse to chorus, and featuring several chord changes, which are often limited in electronic music. His music is a little reminiscent of legendary British apocalyptic pop project The The, although much more mellow both in attitude and sound. Gracie has a few shows coming up in NYC, the first one of which is at Union Pool on April 30th with Nicholas Nicholas.
