Jillian Grey – ‘Perfect Sunrise’ – alluringly simple and devastatingly beautiful

Jillian Grey is an independent artist from Kingston, Idaho. She grew up playing music with her family and in the church, and learned to play various instruments and singing that way. She joined the Air Force (active duty) in 2018 and has since travelled and lived in Europe and Asia. While stationed in Germany during the pandemic, her family encouraged her to record her music. This led to Jillian eventually purchasing a recording setup and learning all the necessary skills to record, produce and market her music. She has since also acquired the help of talented friends to assist her in her endeavors. Now stationed in South Korea, Jillian has recently celebrated her first year of music publishing. At moment, she creates a blend of indie-folk and alt-pop music that at once recalls the past, and yet is totally forward reaching.

Jillian Grey’s latest single, ‘Perfect Sunrise’ sees her making music that emerges from a rich past, through an exciting present, and into an as yet unwritten future. She displays an understated eloquence that marks her immediately as a wordsmith to watch closely.

Even when her writing is at its most linear, she injects her music with a paradoxically complex simplicity that feels almost primal. This single has been so artfully and thoughtfully created, it appears to feel utterly natural, as though the melody has nestled inside her for years, ready to emerge through her voice and out into the world.

Above all else, there is something profoundly intimate about ‘Perfect Sunrise’. Even one listen to the record comes to feel like a time weathered friend; a living, breathing work of art, ready to gently divulge its secrets while you quietly listen attentively.

All of which is not surprising, considering the song’s personal narrative. “I wrote this song after the end of a relationship that had some painful lessons,” explains Jillian Grey. “In the end, the experience encouraged me to hold out for what I truly want and gave me hope for the future.”

Performed almost entirely alongside the acoustic guitar, ‘Perfect Sunrise’ floats with delicate sensitivity, as the guitar picking adds more nuance to a body of work that already teems with vivid detail. The cool, fluid movement of the slowly swaying rhythm underscores the reflective lyric sheet propelling the graceful flushes of vocal passion. The gravity of the guitar and the airy lift of Jillian Grey’s voice feel like complementary forces, pulling the focus towards the emotional and the existential intricacies of an ending relationship.

As Jillian Grey permits herself to sidestep her disappointments thoughout ‘Perfect Sunrise’, she reveals more of her strongly beating heart, and her persuasive will to prosper in a new future. Her writing is crystal-clear and laser-sharp with no waste of words: “I put my honest foot forward. I let you in. Thought you were a good one. So we took it for a spin. But true colors bleed through with time. And you held your heart way closer than mine. And I won’t compromise. I want my perfect sunrise. This isn’t a lost love song. It’s just me movin’ on.”

On ‘Perfect Sunrise’, Jillian Grey turns an experience that is usually associated with afflicting pain, into cautious optimism. “The colors of the spring bloom. As I walk away from you. I see a glimmer, in the sky. And my hope begins to rise.”

She flips her attention to an aspirant hope, allowing the song to shine quietly with the hum of positivity and possibility. Though only two minutes and forty-nine seconds long, the song offer Jillian all the time she requires to communicate her immediate emotions and mindset.

In contrast to mainstream’s lusty and bombastic pop ‘Perfect Sunrise’ is composed of acoustic-guitar and Jillian Grey’s voice, but the stripped-down arrangement that accompanies her, has a vivid way of mirroring Jillian’s stream-of-consciousness vocal flow.

It’s this natural fluidity and airiness, that makes ‘Perfect Sunrise’ so distinct. In this setting, Jillian’s words carry a more specific weight, and take on a new resonance within the narrative sketch. It’s ultimately what makes her music so alluringly simple and devastatingly beautiful to the ear.