Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Staff
Like most teens when they graduate high school, Grace Bongard was getting set to map out her post secondary plans — but then Nashville came calling.
From there the Napanee teen took a risk, diverted her life path completely and headed to a recording studio in Music City. The fruits of that trip will be released on Feb. 3 with a three-track EP entitled Evolve.
“This really kind producer actually found my music on Instagram,” said Bongard. “He sent me a message and asked if it was something I was interested in doing. You never think you’re good enough because music’s one of those things you can never tell if it’s good enough. That step forward was crazy.”
Although she spent a week recording in Nashville, there’s nothing country about her sound.
“He actually found me doing a Metallica song,” said Bongard. “The genre that I listen to most seems to be very hard rock, a lot of metal music as well. I like to cover them and tone them down and really strip them. This album is really sort of alternative with an indie vibe. I went there thinking it was just going to be myself and a guitar and then it just sort of snowballed into this production.”
“I went to the country capital of the world to record an alternative album,” she laughs.
The three songs she recorded are all originals and very personal to her.
“I’ve always been into poetry, that was the thing that kind of started songwriting,” says the 18-year-old. “In Grade 7 I had a poem published in the Poetry Institute of Canada. I never really thought about it as songwriting until this experience.”
Among the songs is a tribute to her classmate Alex Sagriff, who passed away while on a graduation trip in Cuba last year.
“That struck really close to home,” said Bongard, who was close with Sagriff. “That was the first real close to home death that a lot of us had ever felt.”
Sagriff’s parents were among the first people to hear the song.
Evolve will be released digitally on iTunes, Apple Music and Spotify on Feb. 3. Bongard says if there’s enough interest she will consider producing hard copies of the album as well.
Though Napanee is a relatively new home to her, having moved three years ago from Picton, she already has a connection with one of it’s most famous residents. She recalls at five years old her first concert was Avril Lavigne. By the time she reached Grade 2 she was dressing like her, complete with skull and crossbone jewellery.
“It’s going to take a long road to get there but one day I’d love to get in contact and do something with her,” Bongard says of one day working with Lavigne. “That’d be cool.”
As she now prepares for the next step in her music career she is thankful for the support of friends and family, but especially her mom and step-dad, who drove her to Nashville to record her album.
“I started singing when I was three and they’ve always been there,” said Bongard. “Mom’s been the absolute best through all of this.”