Vince Grant: “Edge of the World” investigates his own troubled mindset
Vince Grant is a refreshingly honest artist in an age of hype. God knows how someone so real got this far, considering the circumstances. His tremendous range of angles, slants and forms creating songs makes listening to his alternative singer-songwriter style, both interesting and pleasurable through the whole of his repertoire. Vince is honest, not only through his music but also in openly discussing his personal mental health issues. “I’ve suffered from depression my whole life, really can’t recall a time I haven’t been depressed, even as a kid. In more joyful moments, I was and still am aware of the specter of the disease lurking in the shadows, hovering around me and waiting to pounce at any moment,” explains Vince.
Vince Grant actually completed an entire EP, entitled ‘My Depression Is Always Trying to Kill Me’, in the face of his disease, uncovering all of its dark and spikey facets. “It’s an unnerving way to live. After years of painful confusion I was placed on psychiatric drugs and later diagnosed as being bipolar,” continued Grant. “I write songs to cope,” he says, “I’d like to say I write songs to heal, but that may be asking too much.”
I don’t know if writing songs to heal is asking too much, but it certainly is a way of liberating the mind and spirit of accumulated tension and emotion. And that in itself can never be a bad thing. Furthermore whether some see the line connecting creativity with mental illness as bold or faint, the musical artists who talk about their struggles with mental disorder help to greatly decrease the stigma associated with the disease.
And luckily in this Grant is not alone. Pete Wentz best known as the bassist, vocalist/lyricist for rock band Fall Out Boy, has been candid in talking about his struggle with bipolar. Grammy-winning front-man for hard rock band Creed, Scott Stapp who had a public breakdown said: “It’s hard to understand a disease that you can’t see physically. There’s no cast. There’s no wheelchair, but it’s debilitating. It can destroy your life because it’s hard to understand.”
And of course Ray Davies, best known as the guitarist/vocalist and songwriter for the English group The Kinks, who was diagnosed with bipolar in 1973 following a suicide attempt.
The song “Edge of the World”, comes from Vince Grant’s critically acclaimed ‘My Depression Is Always Trying to Kill Me’ EP, and again deeply investigates his own troubled mindset, and the emotional state derived from it.
The song is both confrontational and remorseful as Grant finds himself between a rock and a hard place, at the edge of the world: “I’m sorry for my careless ways. I’m sorry for all my selfishness. And I’m sorry for my anger too. But I’m tired of being alone. I get so tired of being alone.”
This track gets everything right with regard to making fantastic music. Regardless of what genre you ascribe to, “Edge of the World” does justice to music as an art-form. The lyrics are heartfelt and honest, and there is great respect for music inherent within Vince Grant.
