{"id":5121,"date":"2018-01-11T12:06:06","date_gmt":"2018-01-11T17:06:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=5121"},"modified":"2018-01-12T00:09:16","modified_gmt":"2018-01-12T05:09:16","slug":"grace-givertz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2018\/01\/11\/grace-givertz\/","title":{"rendered":"Grace Givertz’s Songs Are Sweet And Salty, Witty And Resolute In The Face Of Heartbreaks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cMy blood comes from \/ A scab I picked too early \/ And my sweat comes from \/ Global warming in February \/ My tears flow freely for \/ The life I could have had \/ I should have had,\u201d Grace Givertz sings on the title track of her five song EP \u201cThe Light\u201d that came out last October.<\/p>\n

Givertz\u2014who performs at PA\u2019s Lounge in Somerville tonight<\/a> (with a friend, Maggie Rosenberg, playing guitar for her) and then has a couple underground shows on Jan. 19<\/a> and Feb. 3<\/a>\u2014describes herself on her Bandcamp page<\/a> as \u201ca Boston based indie folk singer songwriter. With a large voice packed into a tiny body.” To be precise: 4 feet, 10 and \u00be inches tall, she tells me.<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old’s voice is distinctive\u2014gritty, boisterous, soulful, sunny\u2014as she plays guitar, banjo, ukulele, harmonica and foot tambourine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Light\u201d is an album of songs that are sweet and salty, witty and resolute in the face of heartbreaks. As the chorus of the title song goes: \u201cMaybe the light \/ At the end of the tunnel is just a train \/ I gotta face head on \/See if I come out standing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Light,\u201d she says, \u201cis definitely about kicking life in the butt when it\u2019s kicked you in the butt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy family has been extremely supportive my entire life,\u201d Givertz says. \u201cI feel that\u2019s why I\u2019ve gotten to this point where I\u2019m not even phased by getting hit by a bus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, she says, she really got hit by a bus. We\u2019ll get to that in a minute.<\/p>\n

\"Grace<\/a>
Grace Givertz performs as Somerville’s Pity Party. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Givertz moved to Boston in August 2015 to attend Berklee College of Music. She\u2019d come here under the impression that she had a scholarship, but, she says, not long after arriving she learned that \u201cmy scholarship didn\u2019t exist.\u201d The school told her, \u201cSo you have to pay full tuition or leave.\u201d<\/p>\n

I met her that September, when she performed as the closing act of the \u201cPity Party,\u201d a funny-serious depress-tival that I organized with the Somerville Arts Council in Union Square. Her mom sat in the front row crying as Givertz stood on the stage performing a heartbreaking cover of Radiohead\u2019s \u201cCreep” for a rapt audience of hundreds of people.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Somerville Pity Party crowd applauds Grace Givertz, as her mother (foreground) is brought to tears. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So Givertz returned to her hometown of Jupiter, Florida, at the start of that October. She grew up there with her mother and father and an older sister. (Another older sister lives in England, where Givertz’s father is from.)<\/p>\n

\u201cI came home from Berklee and my Dad lost his job\u201d that November, Givertz says. \u201cEverything went downhill from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

She says the family ended up losing their house and becoming homeless in May and June of 2016. \u201cThings got too expensive and we didn\u2019t have any income. I was working three jobs. I was 18 years old. I couldn\u2019t carry that,\u201d Givertz says. \u201cIn all reality it wasn\u2019t my responsibility. Part of me knew that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe lost our house on a Thursday \/ It was just like any other Thursday \/ Because we\u2019d lost our house \/ One too many times before,\u201d Givertz sings in the final song on the EP, \u201cFather\u2019s Daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n

The chorus is variations on: \u201cAnd I know that times are tough \/ And he\u2019s just down on his luck \/ But I guess we\u2019ll have to wait \/ Until tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n