‘If You Only Knew…’ - Greta Isaac and The Creatures of Habit

I was scrolling through facebook in the aftermath of new year. It was 2017, and a sponsored ad came up. That in itself isn't unusual, but what it depicted was a music video that immediately grabbed my attention. Beginning with a fuzzy screen as if recorded from an old VHS, black and white footage filled the centre of the image. It was a television screen, curved in the corners, like home consumer technology from the 1950's. The images seem unrelated. Actors, actresses, the first moon landing, adverts and news reels. Then more sinister images appear. Blood pooling on the ground, a man making himself up to be a monster, pictures from horror movies. Interspersed with this are modern logos, the sheer simplicity unmistakable. These served as subtitles to the song that played underneath. Driven by a lonely, yet curious bassline, and a light female voice with perfectly placed harmonies, you'd be forgiven for assuming this was a straight up acoustic piece of little consequence. Until the subtle touches of electronic instrumentation are added into the mix. The sampled vocals used to add to the melody and the bursts of static elevate this composition to something else entirely. The song was called Don't Tell, the artist was Greta Isaac, and what I had stumbled upon would change the course of my 2017.

For a week or more this was all I found. Greta's facebook page was bare, a single photo of a woman wearing her hair in a ponytail, yet with her face blurred was the only thing on the sparse page apart from the music video with minimal likes, equal to the number of likes on the page itself. I decided to branch out.

I checked instagram, where I found much of the same thing, though I found the source of the artwork on the facebook page. Stephen Madoc Pierce had created the image of who I presumed to be Greta Isaac, along with the cover-art for Don't Tell. There was a website here too, gretaisaac.xyz. If you clicked on it, it took you to a place where you could sign up to a mailing list, which of course I did. But the website never became fully active, and now doesn't exist at all.

Almost straight after I found Greta Isaac, Intro was released a couple of weeks later. This video began the same way as Don't Tell. The beginning had a number 2 in the bottom left corner. Don't Tell was number 1. The sweat-laden forehead of a male character appears. A voiceover took charge of this composition, 'A habit in its embryonic form is seemingly harmless...' It was a man's voice, a Southern English accent. The music features percussion, mandolin, more sampled vocal, static, even acoustic guitar. The voiceover continues before Isaac's voice takes over in a whirlwind of sound. Meanwhile the man the video focuses on is going through a rage of emotions, from screaming to playfulness, crying and blowing kisses, but his hands are nowhere to be seen, that is until you realise they are tied down. He is staring at a screen, or is it a mirror? As the point of view turns slowly around, you realise he is in a tunnel, and is one of many people who are doing exactly the same thing. This single track is the key to unlocking the meaning behind Don't Tell, and the music that would follow over the next 18 months. This man is one of many Creatures of Habit.

It was March before there was new activity. Live videos began to appear on the facebook page. And I don't mean performance videos, I mean when a person goes live where they can interact with their fanbase via video. Every couple of nights, the page would go live, but all that would appear is a person watching television in the dark, hardly moving for ten minutes or more before the stream ends. People could comment, but nobody would comment back. I purposely watched a whole one of these videos from start to finish, trying to get some kind of meaning out of it. But it turns out this was just one point of view.

This is the other point of view. 'You' was released in the middle of March and is labelled the third release at the start of the video. Right away you can tell the budget has gone up with multiple characters and extras queuing up outside a building at night-time. The song would grab me immediately, this one driven by acoustic guitar and the melody catchy without veering into the regular pop sensibilities. The female lead descends into a basement, a waiting room. A digital clock reads 15 minutes on the wall. A secretary sits at a desk while two other people wait on chairs. Shots of people experiencing something face-on to the camera burst onto the screen, the man in the waiting room is nervous. The people undergoing their experience cycle through vast levels of human emotion, before the countdown reaches zero and they leave the room. Our female lead passes an envelope to the secretary before taking a seat. The nervous man slips off his wedding ring. Then it's our female lead's turn. She emerges into a dimly lit tunnel and is deeply fascinated by what she sees. The countdown ticks away to zero, where you expect her to get up and go like the rest of them - except she doesn't. The crowd outside gets rowdy when the next one isn't allowed in. The secretary shifts in her seat. Security bangs on the door, forcing our lead character to turn away and for a moment we see the glimpse of something, of what she's looking at. She turns back, not leaving - laughing, crying, screaming. The door bursts open and a gang of men rush in, gripping the woman, gritting her teeth as she's desperate to stay, but they overpower her and drag her from the room. Then we finally see the full set-up constructed in the bunker-like room. A mess of equipment, stacked atop one another with a digital clock reading zero and a CRT television in the very centre displaying nothing but static.

I mistakenly thought for a short amount of time that the female lead in the video was Greta Isaac. It wasn't until I'd seen it a couple of times and read the comments beneath that somebody had pointed it out. She wasn't the lead character at all, she was the secretary. This was the first time I'd see what she actually looked like. Aside from this brilliantly constructed the video, there was the music. The vocals once again were accompanied with great harmonies, a touch of distortion taking a sharp edge off of them. There was the flicking of mandolin strings, and this time - drums. A low tom punctuated the beginning of each acoustic round, but I wouldn't call it an acoustic song. I wouldn't have called any of this acoustic music. Yet here it was, driven by acoustic instruments. What was this music and where had it come from?

On April 21st there was a new hive of activity on the page. A video had been uploaded, just 17 seconds long. It depicted a television screen which at first was filled with static, and then the following words were displayed:

Greta Isaac

13 / June

7 / pm

Secret Location

Near Brixton

Greta Isaac

Not unlike the Don't Tell video, random images were interspersed with the announcement, and the soundtrack was a myriad of unrelated noise. Before this I hadn't even considered that Greta Isaac would be playing live. Some artists don't. I didn't think I'd see the gig, by the time I got to the video, the tickets had already sold out. Though it turns out this was merely the first wave of tickets. When the second wave went on sale, I bought a ticket for a fiver.

Then a week later there was more activity. Another version of 'You' was released with an accompanying music video. The now familiar stamping of the introduction read as number 4. Hand-claps and humming began as the camera descended down a staircase and into a club. Booths were on the left side, a covered lamp and a fan blowing a knitted mobile above it. Aside from the hand-claps holding down the beat, music was entirely absent from this version. It was driven solely by a lone lead vocal and harmonies. As the camera pans around, we see at the back of the club the source of these harmonies, but I'm getting ahead of myself. The camera continues to pan to the right where curtains pulled aside reveal a television of static and a mannequin watching intently. Spinning around, past the fan and mobile, a man sits alone under a spotlight, the camera edges closer to the performers before turning and focusing on a frozen man with a payphone receiver to his ear. A mannequin head wears a gas mask. One more look at the man under the spotlight before the camera gets closer to the women on the small stage. Standing in front of a single microphone, the figure in the centre is undoubtedly Greta Isaac. But what of the women standing either side? I wouldn't find out for some time yet. Circling round behind them and back out again, the camera starts to move further away from them - and then, silence. All in a single camera shot.

May was quiet, except for the announcement that the support act for the secret show would be Look Mum No Computer. A week or so later, a video of a television screen filled with static was uploaded to the facebook page with the announcement that the show had been postponed due to unforeseen circumstances. Was this all part of the concept? No other detail was released, except an identical video to the first one was released two weeks later saying that the show was rescheduled for the 5th of September. This appointment would be kept.

At the end of June, the next single materialised. Comfortable was number 5 in the sequence, the introduction giving way to sycophantic hand-drawn smiley faces. Stock footage of forests, of fires being put out, freak storms and pigs in a pen are being watched by a family in their living room. They all have their eyes closed but have eyes painted on their eyelids. More stock footage of dogs in a cage, and children in sweat-shops, the family gorges on junk food. As Isaac sings 'I'm comfortable', the words are written across the screen, and you can't help but feel the exact opposite. 'Let the world crash down around me, I don't wanna know, I don't wanna know.' The instruments used here are the same as for You. The mandolin, drums and percussion, sampled vocals, the harmonies. Greta Isaac had a sound. During an instrumental break, the sampled vocal becomes the lead instrument, and more stock footage is seen while our eyed eyeless individuals watch at home. It was all beginning to make sense. Have we become comfortable watching the world burn around us? Have we become content in doing nothing? The four individuals in the living room nod in time to the music as if to confirm my suspicion. The song breaks down and something like a glockenspiel plays as Greta sings 'Out of sight, out of mind.' The youngest family member struggles, her eyelids curve upwards as she forces them open to her own absolute horror while the rest of the family do nothing. As the song reaches its conclusion, the girl shuts her eyes as contentment once again washes over her and the family are returned to how they were at the start of the video.

It was the middle of August when the last batch of tickets for the secret show went on sale. This is significant because with this came an image of a man with a smiley face drawn on. He was in a tunnel, a room painted red with rows of seats. I asked if this image was from inside the venue. I didn't really expect a reply, but I got one in the form of a single word - 'Indeed.' I didn't recognise the place at all. It was small, which was why the first batch sold out so quickly.

My curiosity had peaked. I searched the internet for more information on Greta Isaac. She was affiliated with Orla Gartland, and over the years had recorded bedroom covers with her. Isaac had also released two previous EPs called Down By The Water (2014) and Oh Babe (2015). But these weren't on youtube, weren't available for download and all the videos relating to that period had been scrubbed. I don't know how I found it, but a site selling the two EPs pertaining to be an official outlet had slipped through the net. I ordered a copy of each, that was at the end of August. I also found a video of Oh Babe, a live performance at Hyde Park in 2015. This is a good indicator of the type of material Greta was releasing prior to the end of 2016.

By the end of August, the secret gig had sold out. The location was announced two days before the show - it would be at the Whirled Cinema near Loughborough Junction station. I'd never been there before and have never been back since. The tickets on Dice would only activate two hours before the gig.

I got out of Loughborough Junction. Where the hell was everybody? It was desolate. No, it was bleak. The pavement was cracked and uneven. Every business was boarded up with smashed windows, signs were old and peeling. Foliage grew everywhere there was empty space, and the sky was grey. It was like I was walking through the end of the world. On the run up to the venue, there were car garages, pieces of junk everywhere, ripped apart fencing, a boxing place named 'Miguel's' and there, a tiny lit up sign read 'Whirled'.

I could hear music coming from inside the venue. I looked up, and a terrace area was visible. I suppose this was where people smoked. The music was of the support act - Look Mum No Computer. It was electronic, it was loud, and the vocals were male. The queue didn't start going inside until about 15 minutes past the opening time.

Inside were a set of stairs, I went up and to the left was the stage. Hardly anybody was here yet. Red leather benches lined the outside of the walls, creating a circle around the open standing area. I took a photo of the stage, which had a massive modular synthesizer placed on it with an array of guitar pedals in one huge box. Old TV screens showed static on either side of the stage. Two PA speakers were behind them, and a black cloth at the back. After some deliberation, I decided to tweet this photo to Greta Isaac saying 'Nice place you got here'. Checking back some minutes later, I found that she liked the photo. Sweet.

A man with his hair all shaved back and sides took to the stage. The place was reasonably filled by this point, but by no means full. He had a handheld microphone, he was using a synthesizer to his left, his modular synthesizer on his right, and his array of pedals behind him. This was Look Mum No Computer. He explained that it was just him. It was the length he went to not to have any computers in his music, which is quite hard in this day and age. He had soldered up the modular synthesizer himself over around three years, and it was only a quarter of what he'd actually built at the time. The stage wasn't at all stable, everything rocked around whenever he moved on it. The modular synth suddenly looked very fragile up on that stage. It was spectacular to watch though. The beats all came from the modular, while the lead lines he played on the synth to his left. The pedals lent his voice some delay, or distortion, and even pitched it up a bit. I think one of them was also a loop pedal, because he would cut out some of the music with it, then reintroduce it later in the song. It was magic to see. His songs had attitude. It was loud. I quite liked his voice. He occasionally went off-key, but it was good. He had passion for it. He told the crowd he'd built a bike that was also a synthesizer too. The guy didn't have that with him but I'd seen it online beforehand. His name is Sam Battle. He said at the start of his set that he'd be playing for 20-25 minutes. The time whizzed by in a flash. At one point he asked the crowd if they'd heard a cover of 'Slam Dunk the Funk'. Nobody had. He said he would cover it at some point, but not right now as it would be terrible. I remember he said before one song 'this is a bit of a quiet one'. For the most part, I couldn't tell the difference between that one and the rest of the songs, but I wasn't complaining. The crowd loved him so much that they asked for another song. He said he'd only rehearsed one more song, but it was rubbish so he scrapped it. After playing half of it, he stopped and said he couldn't remember any of the words. Honestly he was great. Kind of shy, but he was a hit with the crowd, and sometimes support acts really aren't. I was seated in my chair the whole time tapping the beat out on my legs. It felt like this was the show in itself, I couldn't believe this was only the beginning.

It was around 9 o'clock when Intro was played over the speakers, with the right TV screen flaring into life, displaying the man pictured in the video for the song. The left one still displayed static. A bit of me thought this was part of the plan, that the screens would display different things at different times, but no, the left screen was simply malfunctioning. People fiddled with it, and it came to life, showing the man also. The lights around the room dimmed, but you'd hardly notice as it was quite dark anyway. Greta emerged with five other people. Three guys at the back, a double bass player (!) who also sang backing  vocals, a mandolin player, and Lloyd on acoustic guitar. I'd met his Mum earlier in the night, which is how I knew his name. The front three included Greta's sisters, one of whom was Elan on the right playing a low tom, while Miriam on the left was playing a synthesizer. Both sang backing vocals. These were the vocalists who appeared in the You (acoustic) video. Greta would trigger a sampler in front of her, and occasionally play acoustic guitar too.

'You' began with the deep bass. Greta's vocal was perfect. This live version of the song combined elements from the studio version of You, with the a cappella vocal arrangements. It was a pretty cool compromise between the two. Different footage was shown on the screens, which included clips from the music video of this song, interspersed with things I hadn't seen before. The curtain behind the band displayed an MRI scan of a human head, going through all the slices taken in black and white.

Music played, a variation on You that sounded like it was on electric guitar. This went directly into Undone, the first new song of the evening. More footage on the screens. This song was faster than You and around the same tempo as Comfortable. Everybody on stage was so into what they were playing. They were swaying to the music, bouncing on the balls of their feet, Elan Isaac was throwing her arms in the air when hitting the drum with her beaters. This was the first song Greta played acoustic guitar on. A good first impression here.

Greta greeted the crowd. 'I genuinely expected two people to come,' her Welsh accent coming in thick and fast. She asked how everyone was, 'Cool. Thanks for coming. That's really cool. ...Cool! I don't know what to say! I think a few of you will know the next song. Hmm? None of you will know the song.' She was in doubt that people had been listening to her music. I didn't recognise what it was at first, I assumed it was an old song. This was 'Inside'. Slower, to piano, with some kind of pad atmosphere behind it. At the time of writing, it remains unreleased. Then that familiar bass line and a vocal, 'Don't give the game away...' It was Don't Tell. It pretty much sounded just like the studio version, the band were well rehearsed. I'd spent all of 2017 listening to this song and now I finally got to hear it live. A quick 'thank you' at the end of the song, and a big cheer from the crowd.

'I'm gonna sing a song with my sisters....my name's Delilah.' She said that in a Nashville kind of accent. Greta was back on acoustic for this song. It was called Something Good. The guys behind the ladies left the stage, leaving just the three of them there. This was a slow song, with gentle acoustic guitar, but mostly focused on the vocals, like her first two EPs. Somebody started enthusiastically clapping before the end. Greta gave them a look, and carried on the song. It was quite funny, and almost certainly ruined the mood. When the time came, the crowd properly gave applause. Another one that remains unreleased.

The guys returned, and an intricate mandolin line started to play. It was fast paced and Greta sang alone with this before the rest of the band started to play. What I love about all these songs is that they all have their own little characteristics that make them different, but a unified sound that keeps them together. This was 'Gone'. The double bassist used a bow here, the throb of it inescapable. The backing vocals were long sustained notes, very pretty. Around this time the left TV screen had gone off again. Sam Battle of Look Mum No Computer got fed up of this, and decided to fiddle with it himself. He checked the connections at the back, then opened a panel at the front of the ancient screen, playing with it until the image came back to life. A few people did a little cheer for him. I gave him the thumbs up.

'Two more songs for you'. The crowd let out a negative sigh. This next song was to be the next single at the end of the month. The subject matter wasn't so good, which made the crowd a bit awkward. One woman went 'Woo!' which was quite funny. This was another rhythmic one. Greta was back on acoustic guitar. This was called 'Tied'. Everything was thrown at this one. Drums, mandolin, bass, synth, even Greta did a load of sample wizardry towards the end of the song, pressing pretty much every button available to her.

'This is our last song, and it's called Comfortable. It's about being blissfully unaware of, stuff. Don't know if you know but the project is about exploring very unhealthy human tendencies that we have. Some really jolly stuff you know? So, being comfortable with bad things. Cool. Stop saying cool, sorry.' She thanked the crowd, and introduced the song. I liked this song before the gig, but after the gig, I loved it. It worked so well with a band. This was the most happening the band was in the whole gig. There is just so much. You've got acoustic guitar which Greta kept on for, the weird lead line on the synth, banging drums, random sampled percussion, the backing vocals are all over it. It's such an ace piece of art. As well as this, the TV screens were still going, displaying all the madness. Stop motion clay models with their heads being ripped open, creepy smiley faces under static, people with all sorts of things drawn all over their expressions, someone looking like they were hatching out of an egg. It was mesmerising, as if the band weren't mesmerising enough on their own. Comfortable ended with a big finish, with the band gaining much applause.

Officially, this was the end of the set. Officially. One guy shouted out 'One more!' The crowd followed, so much applause, so much so that Greta came back onto the stage. 'I don't know if you know, but we did an a cappella version of You. We're gonna do it now. So yeah.' One of the guys hit a note on the acoustic guitar, which was stood up on the stage, to bring the ladies in key. Leading in with a click by Greta, the girls began to sing. It was beautiful. It really shows off the acoustics of the venue. Miriam carried on the clicking once they began. The audience was dead quiet throughout all of this. With the high notes at the end, Greta was almost a foot away from the microphone. Perfection.

And that was it. Greta had jumped off of the stage and mingled in with the crowd. I looked at the stage and saw a setlist sitting in front of the low tom. I worked my way through the crowd and picked it up. I hadn't seen a setlist like this before. It was on an A4 piece of card, handwritten with the songs in black marker, with boxes around them. Some of them had numbers next to them. I don't know what those were for. There was also red handwriting. Some of them referred to the TV screens going on and off, but these were all crossed out. I assume the responsibility of these had gone from the band to the sound desk. They also had notes for the pads, for volume or different settings. The setlist only went up to Comfortable. On the back was written in red pen in one top corner, 'Miriam', even though it was Elan's setlist.

I turned around and saw Greta Isaac speaking to somebody. I waited there for a second, then she turned around, her eyes went wide. Then all of a sudden she threw her arms up in the air and shouted 'Terry!' I was confused and asked how she knew who I was. She raised her hand, bringing her finger to it in a sweeping motion, mimicking swiping a phone, and said 'Oh I've browsed your photos'. This took me aback. For the first time I'd realised that social media can go both ways. Just like you can look them up, they can look you up. I told her the show was amazing, and I asked if there was an album coming soon. She said yes, but shh - raising her finger to her lips. And more shows? Yes there would be more shows too. I went to shake her hand, she apologised for being so sweaty. I said it was fine, everybody in that room was sweaty. Before I left, we got a photo together, the sweat in the room not so obvious thankfully.  

There were a couple of faces I recognised at this show. One was Orla Gartland, the other was Hannah Grace. On the strength of this gig, I bought a ticket to see her London headline show a week later. I tweeted Greta again at the end of the week about the EPs I'd purchased. I asked her about it, hoping I hadn't been scammed. She tweeted me back saying that they would be with me within the week. Result!

I didn't know what I was expecting at the conclusion of Hannah Grace's gig at St. Pancras Old Church the following week, but it wasn't seeing Greta Isaac coming out from the backstage area as I was grabbing a setlist from the front of the stage. I looked at her, and she looked at me, both of us struck dumb by the sight of each other. Then we gushed about Hannah and how good the show was. Overall, this encounter was pretty short, as she was on her way to see some people.

Orla Gartland was also at this gig. She was loitering around her chair, so I decided to go and say hi to her again. I said something to the effect of 'We need to stop meeting like this,' - we'd also spoken at Greta's gig. We chatted quickly about how good the show was. Then I sat back down briefly. I spoke to Greta some more and we took a photo, a woman walked past and said 'Ooo, are you famous?' Greta laughed and said 'Nah.' Haha. I said something like 'I don't know how to find the words to describe how good I think your music is,' and Greta replied with 'That's kind of good, and bad, it's ok I'll wait,' that made me laugh.

I asked her if she co-wrote the new songs with anybody, and she said 'Yeah, that guy over there in the hat, his name is Jacob.' I'd seen him earlier in the night. Jacob Attwooll played mandolin at the Brixton gig. As well as co-writing these songs, he also has credits with Craig David, Olly Murs, Emily Burns and Tom Grennan. Greta asked where I lived. I said it was Kent, about an hour on the train away. I asked Greta if any more gigs would be coming up soon. She said there was one in Cardiff. I chuckled. She asked if Kent was far from Cardiff? I said, 'a little bit yeah'. Greta said I was welcome to come. I basically agreed. Not really thinking it was a four hour train journey and endless amounts of money for travel and a stay. Before parting ways, I said something like 'See you in Cardiff!' I didn't realise I'd be seeing her much sooner than that.

'Tied' did come out at the end of September with teasers of gif images. A woman with her hands behind her back who seems to be pointing at her wedding ring, and a man standing up, gripping the neck of a woman sitting down. I stayed up to hear the premiere of the track on BBC Radio 1. This would be the last new release for a while, and it would be the only one to not get a video release. Tied goes straight in with the vocal. 'You're picking at my insides, I feed 'em to you one by one...' The consensus is that this is about toxic relationships. 'Your body is a poison, I drink it up until I drown, and I can't stop now.' We've all heard the tale, somebody in a shitty relationship who is let down time and time again and their response is 'but I love them'. That's the embodiment of this song, and is a valuable addition to the Creatures of Habit story.

October rolled around with an announcement of supporting singer/songwriter Nathan Ball at Bush Hall later in the month. The photo of his face accompanying this announcement was obscured as one would expect by this point. I bought a ticket but in between all this, I received a tweet from Greta saying that she owed me two CDs! I still hadn't received them. I'd tweeted her a couple of times and she assured me I'd get them eventually. She also mentioned she wanted to shower me in free stuff! How exciting. I tweeted back saying that would be awesome, and I also wanted to talk about her art. She'd posted a few times things she'd drawn in her spare time as a stress reliever. Turns out she's really damn good, but more on that later.

For the Nathan Ball support slot, Greta would just be playing with Jacob and Lloyd. The crowd were noisy and hardly paid attention. I was right at the front of the stage and found it difficult to hear the band still. The sound itself wasn't much better, with feedback all over the place and low vocal mics. Backing vocals were mostly handled by Jacob with Lloyd occasionally chiming in. Greta had her sampler and also played the low tom for this show. In addition to a set of You, Undone, Don't Tell, Something Good, Comfortable and Tied was sandwiched a cover version of a Nao song called Inhale Exhale. This was the first time the band played it but it would become a setlist regular.

After their set, Lloyd bent down and I asked him for a setlist. He went to hand me his, but then went over to Greta's space and grabbed her's instead, explaining that this one had all sorts of other cool notes on it. I told him I'd seen the Brixton show, and I'd specifically come out to see Greta play. We shook hands. It was a cool interaction. He seemed like a really nice guy!

Despite the continued shitty audience presence, Nathan Ball was an enjoyable performer to watch. He and his band put on a good show. The gig sold out, but I wonder what everyone's reason for going was? Because it really wasn't to listen to the music. It might as well have been a club night with a DJ playing a four hour set.

At the conclusion of the show, I visited the merch table where Greta was speaking to Lloyd and Jacob. I looked down at her desk. There were a selection of postcards, all art by Stephen Madoc Pierce, and a CD, one stack with the face up, the other stack with the face down. She turned around and saw me. We greeted each other. I apologised for not being able to hear her so well because my ears were blown out from the sheer volume of the sound in there (yes mom I've since bought some earplugs). I asked Isaac where her sisters were. Greta said they had full-time jobs, so they wouldn't be joining her on the tour until Monday night. That's a good point. Greta had been announced as the support act for Dodie on her U.K. tour. Despite having a ticket to see Placebo on the same night, I rearranged so I could see both gigs in London the following week.

Greta jumped up, 'oh! I owe you some free stuff!' She gathered up one of each post-card, one for each of the songs she'd released in 2017, then a CD and handed them to me. I was overwhelmed. On the back of each post-card was a spotify link you could scan with your phone. I asked her about the CD, it was full of the 2017 songs. I thought she was releasing an album? She replied that this was a compilation of everything she'd done so far, and the album would still be happening. I guess it made sense to have a CD to sell for the upcoming Dodie tour, though it didn't feature the a cappella version of You. Greta said she had contacted the supplier about the old EPs, and would have some to give to me on Tuesday. She reckoned Undone was coming in February, but in between now and then, she would do some more writing. Once again, I apologised for tweeting so often, she said there was nothing wrong with it, and called me her 'one fan!' I'm sure I'm not the only one. She said she gets sad when she sees I haven't liked or replied to one of her tweets, I jokingly said that I do work, though a bit of me is worried I came across as mocking her. On the subject of work, I asked her if she had a job. Greta said she was able to just live off of this as a job. She lived in Cardiff though, not London, as the rent is much cheaper. She brought up the Cardiff headlining gig. It was on the 6th of December, a date I could make. I looked round and saw people queuing up behind me. I said I should probably let these people have a chance to speak with her. I wished her good luck on the Dodie tour and left.

I got close to the outer door when I remembered something I wanted to ask. I meandered back through the crowd, back to the desk. Greta was chatting to her band again. She turned around and gave me a hug. I said there was one thing I forgot to ask about - her art. I told her it was really good, and she shrugged it off, saying that she just does it when she's angry and wants to scribble something down. Had she considered parting with any of it? She said I could have one of the pictures if I wanted. She suggested a couple. I didn't know what to say. I asked if that was ok? Greta said she would bring one to the gig on Tuesday to give to me. I was completely blown away by this. Again, I thanked her, wished her good luck on the tour, and actually left that time.

And then a few days later I was inside KOKO's in Camden. This performance is in stark contrast to the Bush Hall gig. Here, the crowd wanted to see her perform. It was so cool to see after such a shit crowd for Nathan Ball. This is probably the most 'into' a performance I've seen Greta do. Probably because the crowd were so giving, the audience had taken the time to learn the songs. The setlist for this gig was the same as the week prior, except the harmonies would now be handled by Miriam and Elan Isaac once again. During Undone, the band led the audience into a clapping break, and they were right there with them. When Greta introduced the band, the crowd cheered for each person. Greta started to talk about her merchandise, but then interrupted herself to talk about a challenge she was undertaking called 'one second everyday'. This is where you film for one second everyday to make a film of your year. Greta said she got everyone in Manchester to do the dab (urgh), but in London she wanted everyone to get out their phone lights. On three, everyone did a 'woop'. With Comfortable closing out the set, the band left the stage, but it wasn't the last I'd see of Greta that evening.

Dodie and her band played a solid set. Her touring band at the time also included Orla Gartland, who was smashing it on guitar and backing vocals. 'Before I do the next song, I want to introduce my pal Greta'. Together with Greta and Orla singing back-up, Dodie performed Secret For the Mad. Their voices were such a lovely blend. I think maybe the piano was on tape? I couldn't see anybody playing it. This was the last song before the encore.

I thought it would be a good idea to head straight to the merchandise stand, seeing as I thought the queues would be mental. It turns out there were already loads of people there, along with Greta and her band (minus her sisters, I didn't see them at all). I chatted to Lloyd for a bit, shaking his hand. He recognised me from Bush Hall. He radiated warmth in his presence, it was lovely. Greta saw me, she said to Lloyd to go to the dressing room, and tear out the first page in her sketch pad, and that there was a package too. A few minutes later, Lloyd came back and handed me the painting me and Greta had spoken about the previous Thursday, as well as the EPs. The painting was beautiful. You could see the pencil marks, each individual stroke, as well as all the watercolour that made up 'The Purple Lady' and her face.

The EPs came in a padded envelope with my full name written across them in marker. The first was called Down By The Water, the second was Oh Babe. And they truly are marvellous works of folk music, not at all like the music she'd been releasing since the end of 2016. Both containing four tracks each, these are self-released and remain out of print and unavailable on streaming services.

I really did travel the width of the country to see the Cardiff gig. I found myself at a table upstairs in Clwb Ifor Bach that December. The venue had been upgraded since it sold so well. Support acts for this gig were Sasha (now known as Tragic Sasha) and Will Morgan, both great supports and the crowd really sat and paid proper attention to their music.  

For this gig, the band was a five-piece. The same line-up that played the support set at the KOKO, but with a little more on stage. Jacob and Lloyd played the same instruments, respectively, but Miriam was back on keyboards for this one, whilst Elan had a tambourine on a stand next to her. Greta still played the low tom, and had her sampler in front of her.

The TV screens that were seen either side of the stage during the Brixton show were back for this performance for the first time since then. Some crowd members got excited when one of the tech crew turned the screens on to static before the band took to the stage. The Creatures of Habit introduction started to play, but nothing came up on the screens. In fact they would stay that way for the entirety of the performance. I feel like this was more due to a glitch than them meaning to be that way. There was also no projection behind the band this time either.

The band started with You. Something I noticed about this was that Greta didn't sing the high parts, but one of her sisters sang it. I think it was Miriam. It gave a really weird edge to the song that I haven't heard before. As when Miriam and Elan are there, the a cappella version of the song is slotted into the backing. It sounded really powerful this time. Maybe because it was really loud, or that the women were smashing the shit out of their respective percussion.

Greta's brother was in attendance, as well as their parents. After You she said it was really good to be there. Her brother said Greta looked like a barcode, on account of the way she was dressed. I liken her look more to Beetlejuice. When her Mum said she was coming Greta told the crowd 'good, that's one'. She loved how many people were there though. Undone started, and this is probably the clearest I'd ever heard it. Elan breaks a drum stick with how hard she's hitting the tambourine. They also lead the audience in a clapping part as with the Dodie show.

Greta asks how the audience is and gets an overwhelming response. I think this is the most bouncy and excited I've ever seen her. Next she introduces her band, finally saying Jacob has been making the mandolin cool since 1990. 'This is a song you might of heard, well, it'll all make sense in a minute - this is Don't Tell.' I'm presuming she was talking about the Inside intro. Maybe it only gets played in these situations because they have Miriam on keyboards. Lloyd's guitar on Don't Tell is the most it's sounded like the bass line so far. Overall, the sound is so much better here than I've heard at any of her other performances.

'It's so nice to be back in Cardiff...I mean I live here, so, but playing shows, playing any show...I'm getting it all wrong today, so yeah, I'm so happy to be here, what an amazing venue, yeah, very happy. This next song is a song about sort of the scariness of what's going on in the world at the minute. We're all, quite, how do I say this? I think it's very easy to think that everyone's very destructive and angry all the time and I think it's easy for us to think that's part of human nature, but it isn't because nights like these, where we just love each other, embracing...not that you're all doing that. This is a massive orgy! But you know, nights like this prove that not everyone is angry and sad all the time, so this song is about that so yeah. This is All We Know, and this is a new song.'

It's pretty cool to hear Greta doing a political song. This is a full band song as well, not like Something Good or Gone. I wonder what neurotic character this is written from the perspective of? When the women sing 'Bang, bang, bang, bang,' one of the sisters is singing it in a more deranged way, like it's being slurred by a machine. A great cheer for this one. This would be the only time I ever heard it.

Greta introduced Inhale Exhale next. It was as funky as ever. Jacob and Lloyd left the stage afterwards so the sisters could perform Something Good. I didn't know this, but she co-wrote it with Sasha, and her songwriting partner Scott Colcombe, who was in attendance that night too. Greta began to play and realised her guitar was out of tune, by saying 'this is Something Good.' The harmonies sounded as wonderful as ever. I know Greta had a cold in the last couple of weeks, so the odd note was off. I think the higher range was something she struggled with a bit in this show.

'There's something funny about that song. Right, so I recently went on tour with an amazing artist called Dodie. (big cheer) And we played KOKO in London and that was about 1700 people, and I said this song is called Something Good, and it's just about waiting for that one good thing to happen in life, and someone shouted from the audience, "yeah for Dodie to come on stage!" I was like, shade! It was funny and I was like fair enough, so this song is er... (We love you Greta!) Oh...thanks Mom. This song is called Gone. And it's quite sassy, so get your sass on for this one, enjoy.'

I found a new appreciation for this song at this gig. It being only the second time I'd heard it, I hoped this would be one of the ones to come out in the coming new year. 'Oh thanks guys. I don't know why I'm so nervous today, I shouldn't be. This song, on the other hand, is called Comfortable. Which...I am not. You guys are great. I love you guys. This is a song called Comfortable and it's about being content with turning a blind eye.'

Everytime I hear Comfortable, I'm always amazed at the arrangement, how acoustic instruments could fill the space so well. The percussion, the drum beat, the sampled voices. It just all works so well, and it's unlike anything I've ever heard before. Greta thanked the crowd, and introduced Tied as her last song. Then the band left and we were in encore territory.

The crowd kept applauding until Greta and her sisters came back out. 'Ah you guys are the best! We're gonna do a Christmas cover! It's a beautiful, beautiful hymn called Oh Come Emmanuel. Erm, tune! We have no idea what it's about. Some dude called Emmanuel I guess. Is Emmanuel like a really big religious figure because I have no idea. (someone shouts Jesus!) Shout out to Caesar! (JESUS!) Jesus! I like was like Oh Caesar salad, great. Jesus, thank you Jesus for this evening. That makes sense now, ok. This song goes out to Jesus and all his mates. Shall we sing it a cappella? Oh god.'

Well here was a surprise. The Isaac family put on a Christmas concert every year, and that happened to be the following day. I was actually offered a ticket by someone in the crowd that night but I was already seeing the Never Fade Christmas Party back in London. Oh Come Emmanuel sounded beautiful. I'd never heard it before. Greta forgets the words half way through, and starts sniggering. It was so delicate that you could hear the faint sound of a band playing downstairs.

Greta asked the crowd if we wanted to hear one more song. I thought this would be the a cappella version of You, but I was pleasantly surprised to be wrong this time. 'So this song is pretty old school by now, it's the first song that I released ever really. It's called Down By The Water. I don't know if you know it? (big cheer!) Is that in tune? Sorry Dad... So yeah this is my last song, thank you so much for coming. I'll be at the merch stand at the end if you want to...say something. And I'll probably say some stuff back to you. Yeah thank you so much for coming out and have an amazing evening, thank you guys. (someone shouts GO ON JESUS!) Oh J-Dog woo!'

What a pleasure to hear this song live. I never thought I'd hear anything from before 2016 performed by Greta. It was just as beautiful as the studio version. I think she thanked the crowd in Welsh at the end of the show, and then in English. The band left the stage, and the show was really over.

Greta had some merchandise that was exclusive to this gig, or at least I never saw it anywhere else. It was a screen-printed tote bag with the familiar photograph of Greta by Stephen Madoc Pierce on it in black and white. Greta had previously uploaded a video on her instagram of the bags being printed at a factory.

I was probably the last paying customer in the venue when I spoke to Greta that evening. I said it was a great set. She responded with 'Oh you really liked it?' I asked her about the Tied video. I felt sure one had been shot. She replied that one was shot, but it didn't feel right, that's why it never came out. I finally got to ask her about the Brixton gig, why it was delayed. Greta said it wasn't the right time to put the show on. She wanted to do more writing, and it's difficult to write and put on shows at the same time, so she chose to do more writing. Greta confirmed Undone was the next single, due out in the new year, but it would be a while yet.

In the middle of January it was announced that Greta Isaac would be supporting Martin Luke Brown. This would be one of the only times I'd see The Borderline club before it closed in 2019. After some sound issues, Greta and her band of merry men began their set with Comfortable. In addition to the core band of Jacob and Lloyd, Sasha Gurney was on backing vocals. The sound was good, and people stopped to listen. This went into Undone, followed by Don't Tell. Lloyd gave Greta his guitar for Something Good, it was great to see Sasha singing this too.

The band's cover of Inhale Exhale followed, which they'd performed on BBC Wales some months prior in addition to a couple of originals. Greta introduced Tied as being about someone negative you needed to cut ties with...then she missed Lloyd's intro. Laughing, the guys started again, and they were away properly. This was the last song of the night, there was so much love from the audience.

Martin Luke Brown and his band played a great set. I'd never seen him before. The band consisted of Martin singing and on keyboards, another keyboardist who also played bass, and a drummer. A small but mighty band, the sound was phenomenal. Martin had a great range in his voice, and the songs went from slow or ambient to dancey or just leaning towards the aggressive. This gig felt like a load of friends at a party more than anything. All proceeds from Martin Luke Brown's merchandise sales would go towards a marathon he was running later that year.

I saw Lloyd at the bar and congratulated him on another great show. We talked about Martin Luke Brown and Lloyd said that unofficially, this could be Martin's last ever gig. He didn't say why, but this shocked me. How could a guy so good walk away from it all? It's strange, I never would've known if Lloyd hadn't said anything. It turns out that this was something like his second-to-last show. Martin Luke Brown would play a gig in a brewery later in the summer.

I chatted to Greta about a few things at this gig. One of them was the subject of non-binary artist Zand, which is the artist formerly known as Seafoal. Greta was the art director for Zand's latest music video, which wasn't out yet, but is called Boys Like U. Miriam Isaac was the make-up artist for it. Greta very much downplayed the role of art director, saying she was more just 'there' rather than actually having an official role, but I imagine she did more than she let on. She said more shows were coming up, but she didn't know when.

Fast forward to May, Greta Isaac was supporting Orla Gartland in her first headline show in London for years. Beginning with Don't Tell and some awkward banter from Greta, she announced 'I usually have a band, but we'll have to make do.' It was just her and Lloyd. You was strange without the backing vocals, mandolin and samples. During any instrumental passages, Greta swayed from side to side.

'...this next song came out a few weeks ago.' A girl near us whispered 'YES' excitedly. 'One person, yes. It's about that little prick in your head that tells you hey I look suave today, I'm gonna make anyone fancy me, and yeah, just that little narcissistic twat, basically. So Welsh. Twat. It's called Undone and it's out everywhere now. If any of you know it, you know the 'WE-WOO-WE-WOO-WOO' bit in the pre, post, because we don't have the samples for that. So here we go, it's called Undone.' Undone did come out, but the video hadn't surfaced yet. Someone was whistling the synth sounds in the audience, which was amazingly on pitch. Greta hummed the synth line, with the audience joining in. 'Cool!' It was pretty funny actually. 'All the lads!' And just the guys sang it. It was brilliant.

Instead of the usual cover of Inhale Exhale, the duo performed Sanctify by Years and Years. This was followed by a new song. 'It's about...I asked people on twitter ages ago to describe what doubt felt like. And, so head to my twitter if you want some positive, feel-good stuff, so yeah we wrote a song basically about that. So this song is called Let Go. And it's new and I'm sorry if I sing bad. And you can join in for the chorus actually. Classic singer/songwriter move here, sorry guys.' Greta proceeds to teach the audience the chorus, and gives them the signal for when to do it. It's a massive hit with the crowd. They all sing the words back to her despite nobody having heard this song before.

Tied was the last song. No Comfortable or Something Good here. Her and Lloyd had an issue synching up for the start of the song, but after one false start, it was fine. During the slight synth part, Greta made some really awkward sounds. It was funny. The crowd sang a lot with this one too. Overall, Greta got a really good reaction at this gig. As with the Dodie gig, there was more still.

After a few great songs with her band, Orla welcomed Greta up to the stage. 'Me and Greta used to live together, we were lovers. ...I wish. So we used to live together, and while we lived together we dreamed up the idea of doing like a duo project, which I hope that one day will come to fruition. We wrote a bunch of songs down in Wales. We went on a little writing retreat which is a really fancy way of saying we just stayed in our pyjamas for like a week. And this is one of the songs that came about...' It was called Wherever You Go. Orla then counted the song in with her guitar. The rest of the band had left the stage. Greta only sang on this one. I'd never heard this before but it was lovely and upbeat. It was cool to see Greta on stage with Orla, like in so many live videos on youtube. Orla could've easily asked half the audience on stage, there was so much talent there. There was Dodie, Hannah Grace, Lauren Aquilina and Martin Luke Brown. It was a pretty cool gathering of people.

After the show, Greta walked towards me, and we both said hello around the same time. I said the new stuff was really good. She said thanks, but rolled her eyes. She didn't believe her set was all that. I asked her how her week had been. I never seem to ask any normal kind of questions, so I thought I would break from tradition. She seemed surprised by the question and said she'd been fairly busy. With music stuff? I asked. Yes, she would be performing with Hannah Grace for the BBC at the weekend. The Biggest Weekend was a one-time event organised by the BBC that year (2018) in light of Glastonbury having a fallow year. There would be one weekend-long concert in each of the British countries. The cities were Coventry, Swansea, Perth and Belfast. The BBC had scored the coup of having Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift at Swansea. It sold out instantly. Hannah Grace would be performing in Perth. Martin Luke Brown would also be playing piano and continued to play with her during her subsequent performances. I asked Greta about the band she'd formed with her sisters, simply called 'Isaac'. She said it was a side-project and wasn't sure where it would go because her sisters were still working full-time. The sisters had performed with Sasha for a new version of her song Headlights, amongst a couple of other things.

Before the rest of 2018 dissolved in public inactivity, the video for Undone would be released. There was no introduction to the video as with the previous releases. Instead, it began straight away with the track, the familiar drums coming in before the vocals. Someone was dressing up on screen in low light, putting on clothes and applying make-up. That person emerged on a stage and began pole-dancing in front of a sparkly curtain with the audience in darkness. They danced in front of a light in time to the music, the sound retaining that heavy live feeling the song gave off in the performances I'd seen over the last year. The dancer gave someone on a chair a lap dance. They looked familiar - it was Zand. At the end of the video, there was a small credit roll. Miriam Isaac was the make-up artist. The director was Alicja Rymarowicz, who also directed the You video. The process had come full circle, or had it?

Following the release of the Undone video, the facebook page went quiet for the rest of 2018. As quick as she'd arrived, she was gone. At the end of January 2019 Greta played a small gig at The Lock Tavern in Camden. There was a rumour of new music there, but I didn't attend. Aside from jumping up on stage with the odd person, this is all the activity there's been. I checked on the instagram page early in 2020 and noticed the whole thing had been scrubbed, as if no one had ever been there. During a surprise Q&A on that page in March, I asked if Gone would ever be released as a single. She hinted that it would be coming soon. Perhaps Greta Isaac is herself a Creature of Habit, and the scrubbing of social media is a precursor to her imminent return.