Her 2006 debut album, Cage For A Song began with the in-your-face distorted grit of Art Robot; 2008's Be All And End All opened with the muscular, bittersweet Why Wait?; and her 2010 Tui-nominated effort, While I'm Awake I'm At War, was a break-up album framed in slick compositions.
Yet that honest endeavour sometimes leaves Grater wanting. In short, she went hungry at various times during the two years she spent in Paris, where Grater wrote then recorded Pigalle, which is named after the inner-city area Quartier Pigalle that has long brimmed with brothels.
''I came pretty close to starving a couple of times,'' she says earlier this week before embarking on a national tour that includes a gig at Dunedin venue Queen's on Friday, April 11.
''I spent quite a lot of time stuck in my apartment but I'd go on these long walks through a park nearby. However, I couldn't even go for a coffee because I couldn't afford to sit down. Or I couldn't afford the Metro ticket. It was pretty rough for a while. But I've always lived hand to mouth since I've been a musician.
''The night I arrived, my guitar was stolen; the week I arrived, my manager left for San Francisco; then the label delayed the release of While I'm Awake I'm At War by about four months ... and my booking agent quit.
''Without any contacts I had to forge my way in Paris. But the hard work is starting to pay off. I'm learning to speak French, which helps. When I arrived I could maybe speak a few words.''
Grater recorded her album in a studio once inhabited by famous French musician and auteur Serge Gainsbourg.
''I think it fitted well with where I was at ... I think I've always been attracted to the slightly darker side of things,'' she says.
''And Paris has those extremes. It has so much decadence and so much grime at the same time.''
Having been in New Zealand since December, Grater is heading back to Paris at the end of May.
''My partner is from there. I'm doing a German tour for the album in June, then the album comes out in France in September so I'll do some more touring at the end of the year.''
• Having recently toured in celebration of Bob Dylan's first five albums, Christchurch-based guitar innovator Paul Ubana Jones returns to Dunedin to perform a bunch of his own songs (as well as a few well-chosen covers).
His new show, titled ''Nothing But The Groove'', also marks his 40th year as a professional musician.
• Those wanting something a little, well, noisier might want to head to Chick's Hotel, Port Chalmers, tonight where former Dunedin noise-art-rock outfit Die!Die!Die! is likely to test the limits of the sound system.
Having toured non-stop for the last few years, the band shows no signs of slowing, its latest Australian and European dates scheduled to fit in with five New Zealand gigs, during which it will provide glimpses of material destined for its forthcoming fifth studio album, SWIM.
- Sam Valentine is on a break from Suitable Alternative.
