Hello team PWA, I’m GRAY, an independent singer-songwriter, and I’ve recently completed my first works for Extreme Music, which has been an incredibly fulfilling journey. To summarise my composing journey in a tiny nutshell,: I started picking up instruments from age 7, including trumpet, bass, piano, and guitar, before discovering my true passion for singing. After studying Creative Music Technology at Surrey University, I spent five years in a hybrid pop-electronic band and then launched GRAY during the pandemic. My songs have found a few million streams and have been finalists or honorary mentions in the International Songwriting Competition a few times. Alongside my music career, I’ve been training as a psychotherapist for a few years now, which has deeply influenced my songwriting. A Million Roses, (the title song and the album for Extreme) is why I’d like to be considered for Composer Spotlight, as I really poured all the light, shade, pain, passion, soul and joy of my emotional life into these songs, whilst often including cinematic instrumentals and undertones inspired by my favourite hybrid composers (James Newton Howard, Ólafur Arnalds, Jesper Kyd) into the works. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be playing these songs at an Extreme Showcase at St Pancras Church on September 10th, where all of ticket sales are in aid of Samaritans. I suppose my point is – there is a strong underlying theme of mental health in these songs (isolation, grief, resilience) and I tried to capture that bittersweetness in the arrangements and compositions too – which hopefully comes across for you. Thank you so much for your time and consideration. Yours, GRAY 🌱