Native of San Clemente, California, Gal Musette sprung up as a musical project between ages 10 and 13, which is when Young musical prodigy Grace Freeman began writing piano-based lyrical compositions and performing at local open-mics. Her whimsical approach to melody-driven indie-folk and French Chanson music captured local audiences, and at 14 her music reached a wider audience as she opened for groups like The Magnetic Fields, who inspired her to write “70 love songs” in tribute to their “69 love songs.”
Gal Musette, taking her name from the French style “Bal Musette,” an accordion-based French waltz style, draws inspiration from artists like Joni Mitchell, Regina Spektor, Bjork, Cocteau Twins, Rufus Wainwright, Irving Berlin and The Cure. In more recent years, she has opened for several renowned artists such as Macy Gray, Suzanne Vega, Todd Snyder, and Donavon Frankenreiter. In October she will be releasing her debut album “Backwards Lullaby,” featuring a vocal duet with one of her musical inspirations, Rufus Wainwright. Her upcoming album explores the pangs of hopeless romances and unrequited love, what it’s like to move beyond idealized love into the acceptance of what is real and constant, as well as the cyclical nature of life and love in relationships.
Read our full interview with Gal below.
For those who don’t know, how long have you been making music and how would you describe your style?
I’ve been writing music for the last 11 years but this is the first complete album I’ve made- a lot of my inspiration comes from melody driven romantic lyricists like the Robert Smith and Rufus Wainwright- but I think the style is described best as folk-indie.
Could you briefly describe your music making process?
I normally start most of my songs with the melody, lyrics comes next and chords/arrangement come last. With my upcoming album Backwards Lullaby my recording engineer and producer Jon O’Brien significantly contributed to the final tempos, keys, and arrangement of the songs.
What can you tell us about your latest release Honeymoon? What do you hope fans take away from it?
Honeymoon is a song about the end of the honeymoon phase in a relationship. It’s sad and it’s not sad, it can be disappointing but also beautiful, seeing someone for who they are not what you want them to be.
If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would you choose?
If I could collaborate with any artist past or present, I’d go with Brian Wilson. His chord progressions blow my mind over and over, and I think just being in the same room with him would be enough inspiration to write everyday for the rest of my life. 🙂
What do you have planned creatively for the upcoming year?
I have the album that I’ve worked on with Jon, which I’m so proud and excited to release- and we’ll be re-releasing a few tracks off of it with string arrangements created by Olivia Mainville after it’s original release in October.
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