Naarm/Melbourne singer-songwriter Grace Robinson announces her debut album, choppy, out Nov 13 via AWAL Recordings, and lets us in on her new single ‘is it over?’ – a somewhat darker and heavier companion to ‘harder than you think‘, about coming to terms with the unconditional persistence of body dysmorphia. LISTEN TO ‘IS IT OVER?’ + PRE-SAVE LP HERE + PRE-ORDER VINYL VIA IMPRESSED RECORDS.

While Robinson’s first single ‘harder than you think’ catches her trying to ace her own healing, ‘is it over?’ is accepting that those thoughts don’t necessarily disappear; you just get better at living alongside them. The song sits inside a long-running discomfort with her body and sense of self, and the insuppressible instinct to take up less space in both. “The title is a question,“ she says, “because I’m still working it out.”

The single heaves its way through soft contemplation and genuine begging for an answer, grounded by indie pop’s unyielding kick, Big Theify guitars and lifted by a harmonious choir of Robinson’s own vocals. The repetition of “is it over” is as if she’s spent years trying to kick a rock down a long road. When the question runs out, the rock is retired to a jean pocket – a companion rather than a self-inflicted stubbed toe.

“It never actually mattered what my body looked like. At my smallest and at my biggest, I found ways to feel uncomfortable in my body. That’s why I feel like it will never be over.”

‘harder than you think’ and ‘is it over?’ offer key insight into Robinson’s forthcoming record choppy, but they’re nowhere near the full story. Produced by Alex Gorman (Angie McMahon) and mixed by Marcus Paquin (Julia Jacklin, Saya Gray), choppy was written over a year spent learning to live again, and recorded in just five days at a Pakenham studio, surrounded by her closest comrades and a whole lot of paddocks. “It doesn’t just sound like my album — it sounds like the people who carried me through making it,” says Grace.

The result sits comfortably at the meeting point of indie-rock and something stranger: a coming-of-age record set in the 26th year of life. The title choppy was, and still is Grace’s childhood nickname (because of her chubby cheeks), and the record is exactly that — a return to herself, and the sound of her finding her voice as a solo musician. It’s built on the emotional directness of Angie McMahon and Katie Kirby, looking at her experiences through the lens of ADHD, body dysmorphia, anxiety and success — then bending that lens through the harmonic instincts of her jazz training: diminished passing chords, unfamiliar song structures, vocal arrangements that push past the comfortable. Her voice sits at the centre of every track — the hook, the emotional focus, occasionally pushed further than feels safe. It’s an indie-rock record that keeps threatening to become something else, and mostly gets away with it.

choppy is Robinson’s first full-length LP under her own name, and the clearest picture yet of an artist who spent a decade making everyone else’s music before she made her own. She’s booked national tours, directed an 80-voice choir, and completed five years of jazz voice training at the VCA. She fronted Naarm electro-soul outfit Empress, playing slots at Beyond the Valley, Strawberry Fields and Dark Mofo, and works as one of the youngest booking agents at one of Australia’s most respected agencies.

‘harder than you think‘ introduced her as a songwriter unafraid to be funny about difficult things. choppy,is the fuller version of that voice – her stories are imperfect and rough, but most importantly, it’s true.