"2ND" ~ Press Selections
“There's dance music, which aims to set the body in motion, and then there's the now-ubiquitous scourge of “chill,” ambient music’s corporate descendant that guides the body to a state of rest and/or productive concentration. Queens-based songwriter Grace Ives maps her music to a third coordinate. Her new album 2nd is restless, seeking neither catharsis or sedation but instead exploring the gradations of thrumming anxiety.”
-Sasha Geffen for Pitchfork
“2nd is incredibly fun and catchy. The dance-ready tracks are short and sweet, most clocking in at under two minutes. All but two of them were written around a Roland MC 505 beat, giving way to a distinctly M.I.A. flavoring with the quirky tones chosen instrumentally. “Butterfly” in particular reminds me of killer Arular singles like ‘Galang’ or ‘Bucky Done Gun.’”
-Keely Quinian for Stereogum
“A 12 track album clocking in at 22 minutes, 2nd is an exercise in pared down pop, each vignette effortlessly entertained before darting off feverishly, a collection of sketches much like The Residents’s Commercial Album. Despite it’s fleeting length, there’s a rich spectrum of flavours and guises which showcase Ives’s many dimensions, but never at the compromise of her laconic punch.”
