BMA single review by Vince Leigh
Gia Ransome began her artistic journey as a solitary musician, a singer-songwriter who travelled from the shores of Australia to the distant corners of Europe and beyond.
Her voice resonated through the streets of London, Manchester, Copenhagen, Berlin, and even the quaint confines of a border town in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In 2020, she triumphed at the Voyager International Songwriting Competition, capturing the hearts of the jury with her song Belladonna, performed in the company of the Israeli Dutch collective Zenith Duo.
Gia transcended her acoustic origins the following year and embraced the smoky, subterranean allure of blues-infused dive-bar rock. In this newfound incarnation, she is joined by the talents of guitarist Ethan McAlister, drummer Daniel Simmons, and bassist Nic Johnson, forging an ensemble of singular harmony and artistic depth.
Boots is a slow-burning track, suffused with nocturnal pathos and an alluring intimacy that’s difficult to resist. Utilising her wide vocal range, Gia takes the listener on quite the trip, a landscape perhaps emblematic of what has been described as a harmonious union of the poetic spirit of Nick Cave and the sultry, melancholic allure of Lana Del Rey.
The track hovers around Gia’s vocal and lyric yet capitalises on the semi-spook of guitar twangs, riffs, and the leisurely creep of oscillating rhythms. The chorus is textured with augmented vocal layers that add a heightened sense of dramatic flair.
The guitar stabs throughout are also worth noting, punctuating the song as though signposting an emotional pulse we cannot avoid.
But it is the dynamic crescendo unfolding with surprising force after the second chorus that leaves the listener entirely at her mercy.
Gia’s blend of contemplative folk–pop–rock alchemy is quite disarming, and Boots manages to highlight an acute sense of musical sensibility whose reach is as inviting as it is sapient.
You can hear this track on Spotify or Apple Music
Gia Ransome will be playing at The Shaking Hand on June 30. Tickets here.
