Formula Indie Sessions : Interview with Ann Gray
What is your earliest memory connected to music?
My earliest memory might be singing off-key Katy Perry covers to my parents when I was a toddler, but I also remember timidly performing at my elementary school talent shows. I come from a musical family, so I was encouraged to pursue my artistic passions from an early age — including singing, playing instruments (piano, ukulele, guitar), and even tinkering with music production on GarageBand after receiving a MIDI keyboard one Christmas.
A lot of my passion for music — as well as my appreciation for a diverse range of it — developed through car rides with my dad, who often quizzed me on whose voice was emanating from the radio at the time. One of my favorite memories of this was after Frank Turner released his album “Positive Songs for Negative People,” as my dad and I bonded over our shared love for that impeccable record.
How did your passion for creating music begin?
While I have been singing in some way or another for as long as I can remember (school chorus, karaoke, talent shows), I became passionate about creating my own music after meeting my mentor — and later lifelong friend — Skye Zentz. When I was around 10 or 11 years old, my dad had reached out to Skye (a singer-songwriter in our community) about teaching me both ukulele and songwriting.
But not only did Skye teach me how to properly form chords and hold the instrument, she also taught me how to creatively and authentically express myself through music. Skye was the first person who really encouraged me to begin recording and performing my original material, and when I was 13 years old, we collaborated to produce my first EP, Foolish.
What’s the story behind your current music project?
I’m currently working on a couple different tracks with the hope of releasing them as either an EP or a series of singles. One song that I’m really excited about is called “Spring Cleaning,” which chronicles the uncertainty of one’s freshman year in college as well as the monotony of exam season. I wrote it last Spring during the height of final exams (which for me included an exorbitant amount of papers), and it pretty much encapsulates how I was feeling for that insanely busy three-week period (as well as the positive attitude that I was futilely trying to maintain). Often, it felt like a lot of waking up, working all day, and proceeding to only get a few measly hours of sleep — hence lyrics like “I’m tryna be warm but it’s been so cold / feel young for the work but the work feels old.”
How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music before?
I would describe my sound as a blend of pop/indie-rock instrumentation with folk-inspired, singer-songwriter lyrics.
What is one thing you’ve learned that completely changed the way you make music? I’ve always been a very self-critical person, and that’s historically come up during my songwriting process — for example, my own mental critic starts editing the words in my head before I can even begin putting them to paper. As a result, I would sometimes just abandon ideas if I didn’t feel 100% confident in them, but the “free writing” exercises that I learned during my time at the Berklee School of Music’s Summer Songwriting Intensive helped me overcome
this inhibiting feeling. Each day at the program, we blocked out a period of time to simply write whatever came to mind — no matter how good or bad we thought it was. Doing this exercise helped shift my mindset when it came to writing, and I learned to stop limiting my own creativity simply because I was scared of producing something that didn’t feel like a final product. Since then, I often find myself just jotting down random phrases in my phone’s notes app, and some of these short snippets have even become the jumping-off points for some of my favorite songs.
What tools, instruments, or software are essential in your creative process? When I’m in the mood to create a more pop/rock track, I typically find myself browsing through samples on “Splice” until I get inspired. Once I find something that I like, I’ll transfer the files to either GarageBand or LogicPro, make some edits, and then play the sounds on loop as I messily jot down whatever lyrics happen to come to mind. On the other hand, if I’m looking to create a softer, more acoustic sound, you can usually find me sitting on my dorm room floor with just a guitar and my phone’s built-in notes app in hand.
Which indie artist or song are you loving right now?
Recently, I’ve been listening to Maisie Peters’s new album, Florescence, on repeat. Whether I’m sitting teary-eyed in my bedroom, casually picking up groceries, or even just whimsically contemplating what my early 20s might look like, there’s inevitably a song on that album that can help set the mood (my current favorite is “Vampire Time”).
How have your personal experiences influenced your music and artistic vision? While I started out writing songs based on made-up stories in my head or the plotlines from TV shows, nowadays, I glean almost all of my artistic inspiration from personal experiences in one way or another (sometimes an experience prompts a single line, other times it inspires the whole song). As a result, looking back on my work from over the years is an incredibly nostalgic experience — it transports me to specific times and places throughout my life, as well as whatever I may have been going through during that period.
What emotions or messages do you hope listeners take from your work? I think a lot of my work ends up coming back to the idea of maturing and growing up, and specifically the uncertainty that comes with navigating your late teens and early twenties. I hope that listeners can listen to my lyrics and feel a sense of comradery in knowing that it’s ok — and completely normal — to feel like you don’t have everything figured out. Too often I find myself just doomscrolling through social media or LinkedIn and feeling like I’m miles behind my peers, so it’s nice to have a space where we can all truthfully admit that not everything is as picture-perfect as we like to make it out to be.
What’s the most important lesson music has taught you so far?
The most important lesson that music has taught me so far is to embrace my emotions rather than hide them. When I was younger, I was often labeled “dramatic” or “too sensitive,” and these comments ultimately made me quite self-conscious about my emotions during my early pre-teens. Yet through music, I learned that this ability to see the world — and people — through such a passionate, sometimes convoluted lens isn’t something to be ashamed of, but rather a gift that I can channel through my art. Even when simply navigating my personal or
social lives, music has taught me to openly speak my mind and be unapologetically enthusiastic about the things that bring me joy.
What is a dream venue or festival you would love to perform at?
My ultimate dream venue would be performing at one of NPR’s “Tiny Desk Concerts”!!
If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and why? I would most definitely collaborate with Jack Antonoff. In addition to producing/co-writing some of my favorite records of all time (I’m looking at you, Melodrama by Lorde), his band Bleachers is also one of my go-to artists. Through his nostalgic lyrics and novel instrumentation, Antonoff manages to pack a punch with each and every track he touches.
Where can our listeners follow and support your music? (Website,Spotify, IG, links) Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4bbWW9smH9t465QCIeCXio
Instagram: @anngray_music
TikTok: @anngray_writes_songs
Looking toward the future, what’s your dream for the next chapter of your musical journey?
My dream for the next chapter of my musical journey is a combination of two things: first, to grow my audience and connect with as many fans as possible, and second, to start collaborating with more musicians/creatives across the country.
What do you hope listeners will discover about you along the way?
That’s a hard one, but I guess that I hope listeners will be able to notice my growth throughout my musical journey. I have a bunch of new ideas and projects in the works, and I’m always trying to improve my sound — so I hope that that’s evident in the music I put out.
If you want here you can add a representative Youtube video to insert below the interview 🙂
Here is the link to a live performance of my song “Summer Hobby”!!
