Earth – Monique Grimme (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

There has always been something elemental at the heart of Monique Grimme‘s music, something that feels connected to the natural world, timeless and intangible; her songs, if not always directly referencing the fauna and flora she sees around her, often reveal a liminal presence of such ecological forces. So it is perhaps natural that her music has gradually moved further away from the melodic rock foundations of her earlier work, finding a natural sonic counterpart in more world-infused sounds and beat-led groove.

“Earth,” her latest single, is where those two strands meet, not only meet, but also merge and manifest perfectly.

Built largely around ancient-sounding rhythm and timeless beat, the track bristles with a ritualistic, almost shamanic quality. The song feels primal, as if drawn from something older than music itself—sound as ceremony, music as invocation. It has the sense of being forged not so much for listening to, but as a kind of offering, a sonic sacrifice to the heart of the planet: Gaia, Tellus, Prithvi, Papatūānuku, or whatever preferred name you give to the force that underpins and sustains the natural world.

The arrangement is spacious, forged not only of groove but grace and a sense of understated grandeur, allowing each percussive element to work together – shuffling shakers, resonant drums, and handclaps building an organic melody as a backdrop. That openness provides the perfect framework and launchpad for Grimme’s striking vocal performance. It’s not just the range or control that she delivers that impresses, but the emotional clarity she brings to the lyrics, sounding, at times, like the sound of something otherworldly, beyond human, that echoes a feeling that lies at the heart of such spaces. This is less a song, more a plea, a prayer, an anthem advocating a return to what we have lost as the modern world swallows it up.

As she explains, the song tells the story of “a woman who escapes the noise of modern life to seek solace in an ancient forest, feeling an inexplicable calling, something older than memory itself beckoning her inward.” Thus, “Earth” is a tale of escape but also a narrative loaded with a sense of reconnection, reflection, and quiet transformation.

“Earth” is less a conventional song and more an experience, one that draws on something deeply rooted, that aches in our soul, that offers a pathway, a portal to a simpler, more connected life, perhaps inviting the listener to do the same.