GRACE Turner is a deep thinker. So much so she jokes she might one day pack up her guitar and try a career in philosophy.
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Two big philosophical questions lay at the heart of the Newcastle singer-songwriter's long-awaited EP, Half Truths - who is she as an artist and do her expectations meet the reality?
The seven tracks on Half Truths were written in mid-2017 during a tumultuous period when Turner admits she was "a bit disappointed with life."
The then 27-year-old was still grieving the death of her mother, revered Lake Macquarie artist Mazie Turner, three years earlier from lung cancer, and had extricated herself from a dysfunctional relationship.
There was also her disappointment that her music had failed to materalise the way she'd hoped. Instead, she was working in retail.
"It all came to bit of a head," Turner says from lockdown in the Melbourne suburb of Preston. "I'd been on and off anti-depressants and I think from those songs I entered a better period.
"It's taken time, but I definitely see it as this point of change in my life."
That batch of songs was not only the strongest material Turner had written, it unlocked the path forward creatively. Instead of purposely writing songs for public consumption, Turner found writing for personal therapeutic release brought greater results.
Some like the opening track Disdain were written while driving and only later was music added.
"I think that's when creatively I'm at my best and I've actually learnt that now and worked it into my writing formula," she says.
This is what this EP represents to me, a throwing off my expectations of who I am and what I think my music should be.
- Grace Turner
"Whenever I write I go with those ideas and you think this isn't going anywhere, it's too silly or too honest.
"I just to write as if nobody's ever gonna hear it and you get more expressive ideas.
"This is what this EP represents to me, a throwing off my expectations of who I am and what I think my music should be."
Before the release of Half Truths' first single and Turner's best known song Dead Or Alive in 2018, Grace was known as a folk artist.
In 2015 she released the EP, Live at Turning Studios, recorded by ex-Hunter School Of Performing Arts friend and US based-producer Jamieson Shaw.
However, these new songs with their feelings of anger required a new sonic palette.
Disdain is driven by a melodic and atmospheric guitar riff that The Church's Steve Kilbey would be proud to have written, and the grungy Crossed Your Mind is full of pounding drums and Turner's impassioned vocal as she attempts to exorcise anxieties of death following her mother's passing.
The EP also includes previously released singles Half Light and Easy I Fall.
"It was more about giving myself permission to explore different sides of myself," Turner says.
"I think you fear that, fight or flight centres around that," Turner says.
"Expressing anger, things that maybe women aren't so used to expressing in music.
"I had been writing some gentle folk songs, which I still love doing and it's still who I am, but I see this EP as me exploring more pissed off angry sides of myself."
Turner grew up in Wangi Wangi with her mother and father, poet Richard Tipping and her siblings Kai and Jasper. From a young age she sang and was obsessed with music.
She learnt classical piano from age 7 and when she started learning acoustic guitar at 15 she immediately began writing songs.
It didn't take long for Turner's songs to catch attention. At 17 she won Best Young Talent, Best Folk Artist and APRA Songwriters and Composers Recognition Award for her song One Way Street at the 2007 1233 ABC Music Awards.
Despite her obvious talent and constant involvement in the Newcastle music scene, it's taken Turner more than a decade to emerge as the fully-fledged artist of today.
Half Truths is only her second EP and first since Dead Or Alive launched Turner's profile nationally. The single has been streamed 750,000 times on Spotify and led to appearances at South By South West, Groovin' The Moo, Grow Your Own festivals.
"Some people have a strong grasp of themselves and their art at a young age and that's another thing you have to forgive yourself for," she says. "Everyone's journey is different.
"Mine was different with music and it's taken me longer to find myself in that, and that's OK."
However, more people are recognising Turner's talent and emotive songwriting, that can swiftly alternate between sweet and vulnerable to F-bomb-riddled rage.
Last month APRA AMCOS awarded Turner with a Women in Music Mentorship scholarship, which included a chance to learn from art-pop artist Megan Washington.
Turner recently spoke to the Brisbane-based Washington over the phone which gave her the opportunity to bounce off ideas leading up to her EP release.
"She helped me take myself seriously as an artist and believing in myself," Turner says. "I don't know how many times I have to be told that. I guess I have to start believing it myself."
Grace Turner's Half Truths is out on Friday.
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