Review by Lisa Beth Black

Protest singer-songwriter Grace Petrie’s new album Build Something Better is a punchy but positive polemic: full of fire, trademark wit, heartening hope and some downright beautiful love songs.

Album out Friday 8 March – pre-order here to help Grace Petrie’s chart position!

After over a decade of stand-out songwriting and performing (including an acclaimed stand-up comedy show), Grace Petrie has produced her most eclectic album yet, mixing in a bigger, poppier sound alongside more traditional folk band backing and tender acoustic guitar songs reminiscent of her early career.  Produced by punk-folk troubadour Frank Turner, this record sees Petrie sounding confident and sure and does as the first single from the album ‘Start Again’ promises… picks you right back up.

“As veteran master of empathic music, Frank Turner was the first and last choice to produce. His pitch perfect instincts have taken my howls of rage and turned them into what I hoped it would be: a soundtrack for hope.”

Grace Petrie

The political theme of this album is England in 2024 and rage at a decade and a half of Tory governments which have left the country devastated by austerity and riven apart by division and culture wars. The opening track ‘The Best Country in the World’ is powerful and witty with its stomping big folk sound providing the perfect backing to the satiric lyrics that cleverly twist nationalistic imagery:

‘we would fight them on the beaches / but the beach is full of shit’ 

Queen of the couplet, there might not be anything on this album that quite matches her 2018 hit single ‘Black Tie’’s

‘The images that fucked ya / were a patriarchal structure’

but

‘If you want me patriotic / put the people over profit’

is Petrie at her best, capturing so much meaning in a catchy rhyme in that way that only great poets can.

‘The House Always Wins’ is the second single from the album and is another big-sound clever-take on the Tory con. This punky folk dance track proves Grace’s talents as both songwriter and singer and feels like an exciting new direction musically.  Mention must also be made of the fine fiddle playing, I assume from the talented, multi-instrumentalist Ben Moss who has been Grace’s tour partner in recent years.

This is followed by ‘King and Country’, an old-school Petrie sad song.  With its beautiful indie folk guitar and voice that has goosebump-making and heart-breaking powers (with gorgeous vocal harmonies from Ben), this track is strangely comforting in the authenticity of its lament ‘this ain’t my country now’ and its hard-relatable dark reflections on the culture war…

‘Another boat of refugees went down / Let’s talk about pronouns’

The breadth of this album is notable.  From ‘Meanwhile in Texas’ (an angry response to the misogyny of the overturning of Roe v. Wade) to ‘Next Episode Starts’ (an astute, melancholic song about the emptiness of the social media experience with the mic-drop line ‘Does social really feel the right word for this?’).  From the toe-tapping single ‘Start Again’ (with its wistful ‘I remember ’17…I saw another Albion’) to ‘Fixer Upper’ (a barnstorming singalong that is resolutely hopeful).  From the closing track English Culture (political despair expressed in rich, effortless vocals played out by ethereal strings that wouldn’t go amiss on a Slowdive track) to… those love songs…

Ask any Grace Petrie fan to give their top five of her songs and at least one of them will be a love song (chances are they have a tattoo of the lyrics) and likely a heartbreak song. The power of a Petrie love song lies in its authenticity and Grace is obviously loved-up as there are no heartbreak songs on this album (I am genuinely very happy for her).  However, there are three great love songs.  ‘Earthwire’ is a gentle acoustic track expressing reticence at leaving the love nest for touring with its tender refrain ‘I’ll be home before the leaves fall down.’ ‘If I Were to Outlive You’ is a funny, clever and adorable list song.  The anxious will relate to the scenarios that spark worry about the safety of a loved one… eating food past its sell-by date, anyone?  The incredibly hooky ‘Cynicism Free’ is, as the title suggests, unapologetically upbeat.  Beginning ‘I thought I was done with love songs…’ it proceeds to be unashamedly cute, catchy and a celebration of the everyday joys of being in love. And who doesn’t want that from a love song sometimes.  I won’t give away any of the ear-worm lyrics to protect your delight at your first listen.

No matter which era of Grace you found her or is your favourite, you are going to love this album. More politically sharp than ever.  So many echoes of past records but with exciting new sounds. Confident, more accomplished, bigger.  Heartbreaking enough for our emo sides but also joyous and hopeful. Surely this is going to be Grace’s year to top even last year when she broke into the charts and hit 1 million streams of ‘Black Tie’. In one of my top 5 Grace songs ‘Ivy’ (there’s a great live version on the 2020 deluxe version of her album Queer As Folk) she addresses her newborn niece…

‘Ivy, maybe one day when you’re my age / I’ll be singing from that Pyramid Stage’

I’m not exactly sure how old Ivy is now but I look forward to when Emily Eavis hears this album.

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Find Grace Petrie on Facebook // X // Instagram // Website

Catch Grace Petrie on tour:

06/03 – Glee Club, Birmingham^ – TICKETS

07/03 – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds^ – LAST REMAINING TICKETS

08/03 – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham* – TICKETS

09/03 – Philharmonic Music Room, Liverpool* – TICKETS

13/03 – The Bullingdon, Oxford* – TICKETS

14/03 – Islington Assembly Hall, London* – TICKETS

15/03 – Concorde 2, Brighton* – TICKETS

16/03 – Norwich Arts Centre, Norwich* – TICKETS

20/03 – The Junction, Cambridge* – TICKETS

21/03 – Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth* – TICKETS

22/03 – Phoenix, Exeter* – TICKETS

23/03 – Trinity, Bristol* – TICKETS

with special guests:

^ Amy Thatcher and Francesca Knowles / Molly Naylor

* Gabi Garbutt / Molly Naylor