with Kingdom Calm and Polly

I wrote Dance to Graceland about 2 years ago now. In Rozelle, in the Inner West of Sydney, in my tiny (tiny tiny) bedroom (that’s really a study & not a bedroom), sitting on grey carpeted floor in front of my blue fold-out couch-bed. Each time I’d finish a verse, I’d go across the hall into my sister’s room to play it for her. 

The song came after the break-up of this very foundational four year relationship I’d been in. Oftentimes, after a hard experience, I can find it tricky to properly locate how I feel, or even what I feel. So ever since I started writing songs, I’ve turned to writing them as a form of emotional processing. From this, the song, in a way that is very true to me, isn’t really about a break-up. Instead, it’s like a journal entry of me trying to understand myself better; the decisions I’ve made; the way I view myself; how I talk to myself; the things I’m feeling (or more likely, not feeling); & towards the end of the song, it becomes this greater reflection of how I’ve learnt to shield & protect myself — & how I can move through the world more lightly despite this.