REVIEWS

Grace Ives - Girlfriend

Grace is back with an album that perfectly fits her artistic growth, with a critically acclaimed release full of great new tracks. Alexys Hadaway offers some thoughts

Ives’ voice is truly what makes her stand out. It is akin to singers like Katie Gavin from MUNA or early Gracie Abrams, where it is beautiful but still has an edge that maintains an indie sound. “Drink Up” and “My Mans” are two of the slower songs on the album. The second verse in “Drink Up” describes a morning alone, waking up after a night of drinking. It is vivid and descriptive by letting the audience envision exactly how she felt in the moment. The song ends with Grace talking about her shame with drinking, using it to numb her pain. What these two songs lack in danceability, they make up in storytelling.

“My Mans” is extremely personal, detailing Grace’s fears of not being able to keep a partner and needing someone to love her back. “What If” carries the same vibe as these songs. It is self-deprecating when talking about relationships and a past of drinking. With lyrics like “It was quite the scene when I drank,” and “How low could I take it all alone,” Grace is extremely vulnerable with her audience. The song also ends with multiple “what if” scenarios of her fears of failure and breaking sobriety. Fittingly, “Dance With Me” is one of the lead singles from the album, and this song is able to encapsulate the entire vibe of the album. Its lyrics are anxious, moving from Grace talking about her own anxiety to carrying someone else’s. However, it is still one of the most upbeat songs on the album. The album ends with “Stupid Bitches,” an intimate song that is a vivid story of being with someone who isn’t a good match. The song is able to show strength with the final lyrics repeating “doesn’t hurt me anymore.” The song goes through a journey of being with someone who doesn’t understand her and doesn’t serve her needs, to becoming numb to the hurt.

In summary

Girlfriend reflects Grace’s maturity due to better production, cohesive songs, and strong lyrics. She is able to pull off the “song you can dance to but is actually sad” genre perfectly. The album perfectly blends Grace’s folk style vocals with tracks that are somehow techno and acoustic. One of the songs that best represents this is “Avalanche,” the second song on the album. Even with soft, melodic vocals and lyrics full of regret, you still want to get up and dance. Overall, the album is a really great listen. With discussing topics from sobriety to anxiety to loneliness, there is room for a wide audience to relate to the album. It’s also relatively short with only 11 songs and totaling 36 minutes. Grace is also following the release of Girlfriend with a massive tour ranging from North America to Europe. She hits massive cities like LA, London, and is even playing a show with Robyn in Toronto. Girlfriend has the unique ability to take you on an emotional journey, all while you’re dancing.

Time for two album reviews from one of our resident critics, JX...

EYELID - IT GETS WORSE
In 2026 it’s easier than ever to discover bands that fly under the radar because of the proliferation of technology, but rarely does a band hit you like that and just…stick with you in a way where you can’t turn their music off. New Jersey’s EYELID hit me like lightning. And lord has it been a long time since a band came this deep out of left field and hit my system quite this hard. “It Gets Worse”, is raw in all the best possible ways and creates something fresh and unique out of their varied influences. You can absolutely hear the influence of early Nirvana here…but also HEAVY doses of Black Flag, Descendents, and Minor Threat as well as more contemporary bands like Angel Du$t, Scowl & fellow New Jersey band GEL. They’re not easy to confine to a single bucket/genre. Somewhere between classic punk, straight ahead rock and roll and modern hardcore - this is a band and an EP you absolutely NEED to have in your heavy rotation. Find them on Spotify & Apple Music…put them on repeat…and thank me later.

VILE MIND - ENDLESS SUFFERING
When people think of heavy music and the various subgenres that fall into that realm - hardcore, punk, metal they don’t often (if ever) think of Appalachia. And even less so West Virginia. Vile Mind, with their debut EP “Endless Suffering”, is aiming to change that in a big way. Formed on New Years Day 2025 by a collection of WV scene veterans, Huntington, WV’s Vile Mind wears their influences on their sleeves and doesn’t hold back - like their bio says; “(They) come from the blood of Appalachians who fought for the betterment of the blue collar workers and the unions that helped build this Country. This music is for those who are tired of being taken advantage of by corporations and greed.” The songs touch on the personal experiences of growing up in a region overrun with drug abuse and poverty - the opioid epidemic might as well get a co-writing credit on these 4 songs. Vocalist Nate Holley draws from a place of experience in his approach to vocal work - metaphorically kicking you in the teeth while being unrelenting in his presence. The rest of the band are more than up to the task of matching Holley’s energy, and the result is a 10 minute ep spread across 4 songs that will fit right in with the best of what modern hardcore has to offer in 2025.

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