Margo Mann – Westgarth/Grace
Margo Mann, Naarm/Melbourne based singer-songwriter and poet arrives with talons drawn, to share double A-side single “Westgarth” / “Grace”.
“Westgarth” explores the violent collision of intimacy and the slow carving of identity over time, and how that intersection manifests in each of us behaviorally. To love, and to be loved, is to change and be changed. She distills these fractures into razor-sharp observations and deeply vulnerable lyricism. Mann explains “Falling in love requires a degree of surrender — to the process, and to the inner world of the other. I don’t think it’s possible without temporarily loosening your grip on who you think you are, or who you’ve been up until that point. It straddles two conflicting feelings: ‘I don’t want to lose myself’ and ‘I just want to dive deeper into you’.”
Composed on and for the piano, Mann packed up her band and flew to France to record these tracks with acclaimed producer Burke Reid (Julia Jacklin, Courtney Barnett, Jack Ladder)
“Recording this track in France really pushed me as a pianist. We drew from Lou Reed’s ‘Perfect Day’ (produced by David Bowie), driving the choruses until they bloomed outward. I genuinely love being challenged in that way, so it was a super rewarding experience.” Mann continues.
Alongside “Westgarth”, Mann also shares “Grace”, a melodic dismantling of the roles we perform for one another, an examination of how pressure and expectations can produce painful contortions, have us swallowing discomfort, shrinking for others. “Grace” makes the listener stop in their tracks and consider how they move through the world – and for who.
She explains “I was so angry when I wrote Grace. I’ve come to believe that to feel anger requires a kind of belief in your own agency, which I was obviously struggling to access at the time. So it’s fitting that this song is all about shedding identities and performative roles that we all, and women especially, adopt by default, and to our own detriment. The song stomps its feet, throws in the towel and says “I don’t want to be Graceful for you anymore!”.
Margo Mann is the moniker of Naarm songwriter Taylah Carroll, a songwriter who redefines what it means to grow fully through your artistry. A powerful blend of evocative songwriting and cinematic sounds, Margo Mann tells a story of liberation, discovery, and reclamation of self.
Her work lives at the intersection of intimacy and other-worldliness – drawing on the theatricality of Aldous Harding, the layered seriousness of Paul Thomas Anderson films, the warmth of Fiona Apple’s sonic palette, and the production tapestry of Father John Misty, Danger Mouse, and Jon Brion.
Taking inspiration from her great-aunt Margot, a journalist who left the young artist a poignant message as a child (“…may you always believe in magic and learn to relish words…”), Margo Mann was born as a way to explore the duality of beauty and pain through a new lens.
As her debut double single wraps itself around beautiful melodies and alt-rock rhythms, threads of melancholy fill crevices and moments of silence; through the storytelling, Margo Mann sets up a soundscape that feels lived in and inviting at the same time. A sense of realism and relatability that listeners may find comfort in or at the very least, can understand.
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