“Philly is getting the truest and rawest performances of the tour,” joke Gracie and Rachel, who are preparing to begin their upcoming 10-date US tour on June 4th at our very own MilkBoy. The last time the indie-pop duo played the Center City barroom (or spoke to PHILTHY MAG) was when they opened the venue for their buddy Jesca Hoop in February of 2023. Jesca Hoop is not only a friend of Gracie Coates and Rachel Ruggles, but also lends additional vocals to their recent single “Leaving Home Is Going Home,” alongside labelmate and former David Bowie bassist Gail Ann Dorsey and Ani DiFranco, the founder and owner of Gracie and Rachel’s longtime, aforementioned label, Righteous Babe Records.
“Leaving Home Is Going Home” – which you may have heard on the latest edition of Philthy Radio, now streaming via Y-Not Radio – was the second single from Gracie and Rachel’s fourth full-length, If We Could, Would We, which dropped last month. The LP follows 2023 EP Nowhere Now Here, their last release before spending some time apart (Gracie began working on solo material, while Rachel processed the conclusion of a long-term relationship.) Although the new album would seem to represent a new iteration of the duo’s artistic relationship, when I present that to the two of them during our most recent phone chat, Gracie quickly amends the characterization: “I feel like it’s constantly new iterations over the past ten years. You gotta mix it up when you’re together for that long!”
“The whole concept of the record is exploring our individuality,” Rachel explains of the album, which is comprised of four solo songs from each artist, in addition to four collaborative numbers (including “Leaving Home Is Going Home”). And Gracie clarifies that this is something the two had actually been working on for some time: “I think in past work we were kind of willing the way, trying to give ourselves permission to go away and not seek the other person’s approval… With the group, sometimes you feel like you need to write for the group, but now we’re writing different stories and our own stories.”
In addition to allowing themselves to write from different perspectives, If We Could, Would We also sees the duo expanding upon their origins as “a piano-violin orchestral pop thing,” as Gracie puts it. “I think, from a production or aesthetic standpoint, we were purists in wanting a fairly minimalist backdrop, just coming in with our piano and violin and not too much production happening,” explains Rachel, going on to admit, “In recent years, I’ve become really interested in engineering and discovering new instruments. When we started, it was like, ‘Eww, guitars!’ and now it’s the only instrument I want to play!” She further acknowledges, “I have an affection for mind-changing and not being beholden to one aesthetic… We did some pop-forward things, and now we’re more of a band-band, I think… It’s romantic to think that a band is this one thing, but, like anyone, we have multitudes.”
If We Could, Would We had Gracie and Rachel working with producer Benjamin Lazar Davis of our phriends Cuddle Magic (whose lineup includes our good buddies Kristin Slipp and Cole Kamen-Green, AKA mmeadows), who the two confirm is a longtime friends of theirs, whose work they tell me they’re endlessly impressed by, even if it can be a lot at times: “Ben is an amazing person. He goes in and he doesn’t come up for air for like 10 hours, and it’s intense, but he gets so much out of you as a songwriter because he just keeps pushing you, like time doesn’t exist and the outside world floats away for a bit.” However, they also tell me that, after extended periods in the studio, he’s not afraid to switch it up and have everyone step out onto the porch with their instruments and just see what comes of it.
Although this upcoming batch dates are the first since their latest LP dropped, many of the songs have already had a little road testing. “We did a tour over the summer in Europe, and we were playing the song ‘WTF’ [If We Could, Would We’s lead single, which dropped last June], and people would yell out, ‘What the fuck?!’ and we were united in our bewilderment of what was going on in the world,” Gracie tells me when I ask if they’ve had any favorite reactions to the new music. They also played this year’s SXSW on a showcase put on by booking agent Anniversary Group, with whom they’d just signed, prior to opening a run of shows for our mutual phriend Marissa Nadler, who also works with Anniversary Group and who Gracie and Rachel adore: “We just love Marissa so much!”
In terms of what can be expected of June 4th at MilkBoy, in addition to the “truest and rawest performance of the tour,” Gracie tells me, “We’re playing with a full band for the first time in forever, and they’re a stellar band,” while Rachel playfully adds, “There will be a lot of quiet moments and a lot of loud moments.” And when I ask what they’re planning for the future they admit that they’re already planning on revamping the show for the West Coast tour (which begins July 22nd in Seattle). But they say that there are also a handful of Righteous Babe peers, including our phriend Jenna Nicholls, with upcoming releases you should check: “Jenna Nicholls and Peter Mulvey have this great new project, Floyd Mercantile, and Pieta Brown is about to drop a new album, and we love her; we did the Righteous Babes tour with her.” And they say that you should always be on the lookout for Ani DiFranco’s live shows: “We just got to see Ani perform on the last night of her run, in New York, but she’ll be coming back in August!”
*Get your tickets here.
