Gray Morrison

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Email: graymorrisonofficial@proton.me

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Artist biography
Gray Morrison is a multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter from Northern Ireland whose music pairs raw intensity with resonant melody. Soaring guitars and driving rhythms carry songs about love and loss, memory and survival, and the search for meaning in a mysterious world. Rooted in rock, post-punk and folk, with traces of jazz, blues, country, classical and electronic music, Morrison’s songs are both fierce and fragile: unafraid of the dark, yet always reaching for the light. Gray Morrison is the pen name of Professor Graeme Swindles, a climate and environmental scientist at Queen’s University Belfast. Chosen to keep his creative work separate from his academic publishing, it joins his nickname (Grae/Gray) to his mother’s maiden name, Morrison.

Acknowledgements
My heartfelt thanks to Gordon McAllister for his expert guitar tuition and for inspiring me to explore so many kinds of music. Sincere thanks to Alan Patterson for the words that made me take the leap: “Don’t hide your light under a bushel.” Thanks also to Phil Horner (HMS Guitar Workshop) and Bill Armstrong Amplifier Repairs. I’m deeply grateful to everyone who has supported my musical journey along the way. Above all, my love and thanks to my family and friends for their unwavering belief in me and their constant encouragement. For the love that transcends us all.

The Devil's Side

The Devil’s Side began with a small question my son asked just before he fell asleep: “Why are some people bad?” The song grew from that moment. It tells an allegorical story about a man who gains influence, slowly twists it into harm, and drifts beyond redemption while the narrator watches him slip further away. It reflects on whether our paths are shaped by fate or by the choices we make. The title is a metaphor for the slow turn toward selfishness, domination, and cruelty, instead of empathy, compassion, and kindness. The story also leaves room for the idea that some people may be pulled toward destructive behaviour no matter what, and that there can be a quiet, difficult comfort in accepting that not everything can be changed. The Devil’s Side was released on 25 September 2026 as a two‑track EP featuring both vocal and instrumental versions.

Music written by Gray Morrison
Lyrics written by Gray Morrison and Maia Elizabeth Cara Swindles
Photography by Nathan Thompson

Vocals – Gray Morrison
Backing vocals – Gray Morrison
Electric guitar – Gray Morrison
Acoustic guitar – Gray Morrison
Bass – Gray Morrison
Keyboards – Gray Morrison
Keyboards – Michael Sidwell
Drums – David Jamison
Cello – Laura McFadden

Lyrics
I knew a man who was king for a day
But the cracks began to show
He said everything had to be his way
And I could never understand
But time goes fast
And you know, these things aren't meant to last

You hand out the pain
It comes back as rain
On your soul
And you've lost control
I wake in the night
I try to win the fight
But I know you're on the devil's side

From the penthouse to the garbage can
Under it, are we the same?
How can one man get as drunk as he can?
Creating other's pain
But you will never change the way he is
Not in the book of life!

You hand out the pain
It comes back as rain
On your soul
And you've lost control
I wake in the night
I try to win the fight
But I know you're on the devil's side

Were you born like that
Or did you learn the act?
Did he get you at the door
Why do some hearts turn cold
Like they've seen this road before
But here at the crossroads
I hear the tales they told in lore

You hand out the pain
It comes back as rain
On your soul
And you've lost control
I wake in the night
I try to win the fight
But I know you're on the devil's side

Sometimes it's hard to know where the road will go

What will you do when the sky turns black
Water poisoned by a star
The seal breaks and the truth attacks
And you will find out who you are

Why do you let these things get to you?
Just a tear in the rain
Searching for the reason why
But the words echo all the same
And you don't know how to escape
Will things ever change?

You hand out the pain
It comes back as rain
On your soul
And you've lost control
I wake in the night
I try to win the fight
But I know you're on the devil's side

You hand out the pain
It comes back as rain
On your soul
And you've lost control
I wake in the night
I try to win the fight
But I know you're on the devil's side

Sometimes it's hard to know where the road will go
The road will go

Gray Morrison (self-titled debut EP)

Recorded between March and December 2025, this collection was born from a time of upheaval, capturing the fragile balance between darkness and hope. Each track reaches toward meaning, connection, and the possibility of redemption, or the quiet acceptance of closure. Morrison is joined by Joanne Rowland on vocals (Reconciliation), longtime school friend Rosie Marc (Jayne Harkness, formerly of Vokxen) on drums and cajon (When the Party's Over, Reconciliation, The Lighthouse), David Jamison (formerly of Clay) on drums (Western Eyes) and percussion (When the Party's Over, Reconciliation, The Lighthouse), and a guest performance from Michael Sidwell (of Leithinis) on keyboards (The Lighthouse). Recorded, mixed, mastered and co-produced by David Jamison at Millstone Studios, County Down, Northern Ireland. The album was released on 30/1/2026.

Vocals – Joanne Rowland
Backing vocals – Gray Morrison
Electric guitar – Gray Morrison
Acoustic guitar – Gray Morrison
Bass – Gray Morrison
Keyboards – Gray Morrison
Drums – Rosie Marc
Percussion – David Jamison

Lyrics
I know you’ve heard these words before
The ones that love you hurt you more
And it’s the ones that you adore
Can really get you
I thought I knew you
You knew me
You know me
But if you left me
Then I wouldn’t know what to do
And if I left you
Then I’d hope you would feel that too

In bright hindsight we find
Reconciliation
We see now that we were blind
An end to confrontation
But you hurt me like I’ve never known before
Then I hurt you, but I didn’t start the war

Don’t take offence to what I said
Sometimes the words they just appear
And when you lie in bed at night
Does it matter in the dawn light?
You said you loved me
I loved you
I love you
But can you forgive the words I didn’t say
And can I forget what you said today

Because you hurt me like I’ve never known before
Then I hurt you, but I didn’t start the war

Vocals – Gray Morrison
Backing vocals – Gray Morrison
Acoustic guitar – Gray Morrison
Bass – Gray Morrison
Keyboards – Gray Morrison
Keyboards – Michael Sidwell
Cajon – Rosie Marc
Percussion – Rosie Marc
Percussion – David Jamison

Lyrics
Ship’s beacons acknowledge
In the eventide
Cuts the dark of night
With a warning light

I’ve been here for a year
Over the breaking sea
The cries in the night
Maybe they came from me!

There are ghosts of the mind tonight
They hide away in the bright moonlight
Maybe it’s all that I left behind
I must walk free

And they said we have been lost
Over the breaking sea
Come to fly at night
So we can live in your dreams

I remember that day you said to go away
They said I wasn’t your kind
Sometimes I feel you lying beside me
But it’s only the breeze
Only the breeze from the shore
Only the breeze from the shore

Vocals – Gray Morrison
Backing vocals – Gray Morrison
Acoustic guitar – Gray Morrison
Electric guitar – Gray Morrison
Bass – Gray Morrison
Keyboards – Gray Morrison
Drums – Rosie Marc
Percussion – David Jamison

Lyrics
Sometimes it happens
You just gotta quit
When the world comes falling down
Stars don’t align
Chords, they don’t rhyme
For her, I’ll make it this time

But the day just fell apart
In never-ending empathy
Now it’s time to drown
Time to go down
Into the abyss of my own design

Mornings remind me just what I’ve lost
And nights will tell me of just what I’ve found
When the party’s over
It’s the/a new day
When the party’s over
There’s a different way

You’re a demon with the Judas kiss
I see the walking dead all around
You put your hooks in deep
And tear them down to weep
Then you laugh as they fall on the ground

I see the stars dull then fall from the sky
You just went too damn far that last time!
All the songs we’ll never hear
All the words we’ll never know
The demon laughed hard that time
But I know, it wasn’t your time to go (oh no)
But I suppose, your songs will live forever

That day might come to you
A new horizon, a clear new view
Throw it away, leave it behind
There’s something better
It’s freedom this time

Vocals – Gray Morrison
Backing vocals – Gray Morrison
Acoustic guitar – Gray Morrison
Electric guitar – Gray Morrison
Bass – Gray Morrison
Keyboards – Gray Morrison
Drums – David Jamison

Lyrics
I left you at a bar in San Francisco
Maybe that’s where I left my heart
I flew back across the stormy ocean
It never seemed so far before

Will I ever see you again?
Do you think of me in the sunrise?
And what could have been
If I stayed like you wanted me to
Ooh, who knows?
It’s just how the wind blows
Western eyes

A tear fell into your martini
When I said I had to go
My bags were packed and they were waiting
I said I’d come back someday
Someday soon

Why does it seem that time goes faster
A deceitful rose-tint of the past
We reminisce about the things that could have been
All the doors that never opened
Now they’re locked

Sometimes I think about the way things could have been
From the split decision to eternity
Maybe when I’m gone I’ll see you again!
But now I see your face
Where the sunset ends

Collaborators

Many thanks to friends and collaborators including:

David Jamison & Millstone Music
Drums, Percussion, Studio Engineering & Production
Millstone Music

Rosie Marc (Jayne Harkness)
Drums & Cajon

Joanne Rowland
Vocals

Laura McFadden
Cello
Laura McFadden Music

Michael Sidwell
Keyboards

Alan Patterson
Advice and support

Leithinis
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