Naarm/Melbourne-based singer-songwriter and poet Taylah Caroll, recording under the moniker Margo Mann, has announced her arrival on the music scene with an impressive double-A side single, “Westgarth/Grace.” These incredible debut songs beautifully showcase her ethereal vocals and introspective lyrics. “Westgarth” is a confessional piano ballad inspired by standing on the precipice of love, wondering whether you’ll go into self-preservation mode or allow yourself to fall.
“Falling in love requires a degree of surrender — to the process, and to the inner world of the other,” Taylah said. “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’.”
While “Westgarth” leans into softness, “Grace” shows Taylah’s edge with its lyrics that rail against conforming to suit another.
“I was so angry when I wrote ‘Grace,’” she said. “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!'”
This is one of the best debut offerings I’ve heard in some time. I can’t wait to hear what comes next for Margo Mann.
Photo credit: James Morris
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I’ve been a bit lax on reporting Aussie chart news of late. I missed writing about when Grace topped the charts, and when her brother Conrad Sewell followed suit. But as John Farnham clocked up his ninth number one album with Two Strong Hearts, I figured I really needed to make the time. Farnsy’s now scored number ones (whether singles or albums) every decade for the last six decades. And let’s not forget about his partner in crime, Olivia Newton-John, who’s now scored her third number one on the albums charts.