British songwriter Henry Grace announces new album 'Things Are Moving All Around Me' (co-produced with Blaine Harrison of Mystery Jets) out 23rd January

LISTEN TO ‘THINGS” HERE

For fans of Ray Lamontagne, Damien Rice, The National, Bon Iver and Nick Drake 

Rising British songwriter Henry Grace announces his highly anticipated second album ‘Things Are Moving All Around Me’, set for release on January 23rd, with a release show at London’s Bush Hall on January 30th. The announcement arrives alongside the release of the album’s poignant title track ‘Things’. With its warm and tender textures perfectly elevating his dreamlike vocals throughout, this new offering finds him in one of his more emotive guises to date.

A rich, heartfelt collection that marks Grace’s evolution from solitary troubadour to frontman of a fully realised band, ‘Things Are Moving All Around Me’ is a record about transition; love lost and found, changing cities, changing selves, and the quiet restlessness that connects it all. Co-produced with Blaine Harrison of Mystery Jets, the album is a bold and moving leap forward, shaped by the wide-open spaces of Grace’s adopted California and the intimate venues of his native London.

Moving to California at 21, he played his first shows in the small clubs and bars of Los Angeles and San Francisco. There he was introduced to the music of artists like Bon Iver and Ray Lamontagne who helped shape his early writing and the songs that would later appear on his 2022 debut album ‘Alive In America’. Since returning home to London, his music has been championed by the likes of Wonderland, Songwriting Magazine, Americana UK, Absolute Radio, BBC Introducing and Mahogany. He was a headliner at the 2024 Great Escape Festival and performed on The Acoustic Stage at this year’s Glastonbury.

‘Things Are Moving All Around Me’ has been an album years in the making. Grace and Harrison first met at a songwriting retreat organised by Chris Difford at Pennard House in Somerset in 2022. Stealing away to a quiet church across the road, they wrote their first song together and, upon returning to London, started working on a new batch of songs Grace had been writing and soon had the early makings of a new album. 

Unlike the stark and sparse arrangements from ‘Alive In America’, early demos hinted at a new sound that was more transatlantic and, most noticeably, band-driven with Grace joined by Harrison on keys and backing vocals alongside Brian Love on guitar, Tom Holder from The Heavy Heavy on bass and Toby Evangelou on drums. New songs and arrangements were road tested in front of audiences at sold-out headline shows including The Lexington, Omeara and The Jazz Cafe as momentum started to build and, in October 2024, the band decamped to Middle Farm Studios in Devon to record the album. 

“It had wings from the start” says Grace. “Making records is meant to be difficult, and I’m not saying this was easy, but throughout the whole process, it felt like there was a force willing these songs into existence.” 

From explosive opener ‘Rust’ to hooky first single ‘Say Something Mean’ and The War On Drugs inspired ‘Passing Through’, there is a restless sense of yearning in each of the album’s ten tracks. This is a record of transitions. Of start and end points and the places in between. Songs like ‘This Is The Place’ see the London born artist writing about the city he grew up in and there are elements of Springsteen in the frustration and isolation of his lyrics. In fact, Springsteen’s ‘Nebraska’ was the inspiration for their decision to record the song using a 4-track Tascam recorder. A richer, more layered offering, ‘Things’ starts with just an acoustic guitar and vocal and grows into a warm tapestry of sound filled with strings, synthesizers, wide-panned guitars, percussion and the airy drone of wine glasses as he recalls the early stages of love amid a cacophony of sound. ‘Moving On’, ‘Medicine’ and ‘Leaving Song’ remind us that we are listening to a band playing live in a room. Drums spill out down vocal mics as the warm fuzz of amplifiers and squeaky floorboards all become part of the sonic landscape. ‘California Rain’ pays tribute to Grace’s time in America while the delicate final track ‘Days Like This’ tells the story of making roots somewhere new. 

In ‘Things Are Moving All Around Me’ we observe Grace’s evolution from solo artist to leader of a finely tuned band. In his own words, he says “while these songs might tell the story of the past three years, of the people and places that inspired me, of heartache, of moving home, of hope in new beginnings, of turning thirty, of wanting more from my life and myself as a person, of running down a dream, this record, to me, tells the story of a band striving to create something far greater than ourselves. Everyone gave everything to making this and for that I am forever thankful.”  

The new single ‘Things’ out October 29th: Listen HERE

The new album ‘Things Are Moving All Around Me’ out January 23rd

Album release show Bush Hall January 30th: Buy tickets HERE

Watch the music video for ‘This Is The Place’ here

Watch the music video for ‘Rust’ here

Henry Grace online:

Website / Instagram / Spotify / YouTube

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lorraine@longevitypr.com