Gracie and Rachel – If We Could, Would We

Today, indie-pop duo Gracie and Rachel release a double single “How Can I” and “Caroline.”

The songs, from their album If We Could, Would We on Righteous Babe Records, are the first solo efforts released by the duo. “How Can I” and “Caroline” reflect the evolution of their songwriting, which has consistently focused on the duality of their words and voices.

“How Can I” encapsulates the idea of consequences inherent in taking a risk. Gracie Coates shares, “‘How Can I’ expresses the desire to go back in time and take something back, even though you know it was something you initiated and had wanted to do. It relates so much to the concept of If We Could, Would We in the sense that the album centers around wondering if you would do something differently if you had the chance. This song lives in the regret of that chance being taken.”

“Caroline” personifies the questions and heartbreak after a relationship ends. Rachel Ruggles says, “‘Caroline’ embodies the idealized relationship — the one that succeeds as another falls apart. She’s an external focal point for internal reckoning: a meditation on grief, self-awareness, and the painful recognition that we can’t always be what others need us to be.”

Those themes permeate throughout If We Could, Would We, resulting in Gracie and Rachel’s boldest record yet. It faces regret and heartache head-on, landing on one truth: the only way out is through. They brought in producer Benjamin Lazar Davis (Okkervil River, Maya Hawke) to push their sound further—sonically, lyrically, and emotionally. The album widens their palette: Rachel plays guitar on record for the first time, layering in new textures, while the songwriting splits between four solo tracks each and four co-written songs, capturing the duo at their most unguarded and electric.

If We Could, Would We is the most recent effort from Gracie and Rachel, whose 2017 self-titled debut earned strong critical praise. Since then, Gracie and Rachel have opened for artists like Tori Amos, Julien Baker, and Lucy Dacus. The duo has also performed two NPR Tiny Desk Concert sets, with NPR praising their ability to “mix pop and classical in stark, infectious ways and make unforgettable, surprising music.” Their 2025 single “WTF” earned acclaim from The Line of Best Fit, which wrote that “Gracie and Rachel deliver folk-pop for the future on ‘WTF,’” while Rolling Stone named it a “Song You Need to Know.”

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