At one point, Graham Norwood put music to the side. Working as a sideman-producer, he went the professional route throughout his 20s, going to grad school, living in Italy and later returned to his hometown of DC. When his marriage ended, he moved to New York and found music again. More of a survival tactic, it helped him work through the heartbreak, and he released his first EP Sundry Songs. Perhaps making up for lost time, songs continued to flood out of Norwood, and left him with his full length debut Out of the Sea.
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Produced by Bryce Goggin (Ramones, Pavement, Phish) and mixed by John Agnello (Sonic Youth, Kurt Vile), Out of the Sea moves through eight captivating tracks fused in Americana and folk blending in Norwood’s heartfelt lyrics in folk-driven “Hard Times,” and “It’ll Never Happen Again” to the more somber, echo-y drift of “Out on the Shore.”
Melancholy and heartfelt, “Greenfield” has Norwood’s vulnerable vocals moving through his crisp acoustic with lyrics What have I done / I never wanted to hurt anyone. “The song really grew out of the guitar part, which was this sort of English folk, baroque thing I was noodling around with,” Norwood tells American Songwriter. In the end, the track sets off Out of the Sea’s emotional journey through heartache, and, ultimately, coming out on the other end.
Visually, the “Greenfield” video, directed by Christopher Toms, sets Norwood in front of an old barn facade that’s still standing. “I’m blind, so I just tried to find a director I vibed with creatively,” says Norwood, “someone I could trust to make something visually interesting, and reflective of the emotional content of the song.” Through “Greenfield” and the remaining story of Out of the Sea,” Norwood is clearly still standing strong, through music.
