I really hope my midlife crisis sounds this good. But thanks to the Good Graces’ Kim Ware, whom I interviewed a few weeks ago, I’ll at least have an excellent soundtrack. Set Your Sights is about that midpoint — evaluating the things you’ve done and trying to figure out where you can still go. The Good Graces is a revolving collective of musicians that centers around Ware. This is evident in the wide array of subgenres the band delves into: bratty punk, 90s powerpop, Americana, folk ballads. The unifying factor is Ware’s incisive songwriting: one gets the sense that she’s poised on the tip of a knife — one edge is to plunge into despair, the other is to forge forward without ever learning from the past.
But this album is not a downer — far from it. In fact, Ware’s resolution is the driving force of this album: it’s reflected in the warmth of the bass, the gentle guitars, the soft drums. Set Your Sights doesn’t necessarily offer answers, but it does provide a lot of comfort to souls who feel lost.
The Good Graces — Official, Facebook, Bandcamp
Hear Kim Ware’s influences on her Patreon-exclusive playlist!