Philadelphia’s Harmony Woods surprise-released a new album, Graceful Rage, on Friday. Produced by Bartees Strange, the newest LP follows 2019’s Make Yourself at Home.
Power courses through Harmony Woods’ latest creation, an album that songwriter Sofia Verbilla describes in a statement as “a record about confronting the emotional rubble that this trauma leaves in its wake.” Verbilla lyrically explores the great disappointment of having a personal idol fall from grace in your mind’s eye, and the rush of emotions that follows. Standout tracks include the haunting and raw ballad “Easy,” which opens with chamber choir-esque layered vocalizations from Verbilla. The impassioned pop punk of “God’s Gift to Women” is particularly scathing with notable one-liners “You’re not the person the world person the world pretend you are” and “I watch the skeletons fall / this is your wrecking ball.” Potent and gripping, Graceful Rage is an apt name for a record that so masterfully turns Verbilla’s bitterness into a work of art.
The band announced on Twitter Thursday that Graceful Rage would be dropping at midnight. A longer statement about the album was published on Friday morning:
hi friends, i am so grateful to share my new album GRACEFUL RAGE with you all today. it’s a chaotic, intense, messy, passionate record resulting from months spent ruminating in isolation. i hope it makes you feel something. thank you for being here https://t.co/YOhvUqiK89pic.twitter.com/rtqShEVVAl
— HARMONY WOODS (@HarmonyWoodsPA) March 12, 2021
Listen to “Easy” off Graceful Rage below.
