Grace Givertz bids love goodbye on her cinematic folk album

Lots of songs explore the indignities of modern dating. But for Boston musician Grace Givertz, the topic is especially fraught.

“I had gone on a really bad date,” Givertz said, recalling the incident that inspired her song “Black Belt.” “It was a guy who just talked at me.”

After the date, Givertz told the story to her friend Addy Harris, an indie rock musician who performs as Rat Tally. Both musicians are biracial.

“We were just talking about how so many of the guys that we had dated in the past always liked to talk about the fact that they were dating a person of color – the white guys,” Givertz clarified. “And it's like, do you want a cookie?”

“Black Belt” is one of the singles on Givertz’s sophomore album, “Midnight Feature,” out March 13. The shaggy earworm of a song, which features Rat Tally on backing vocals, wryly parodies a specific Type of Guy  – progressive, white, and just a little too proud of dating a Black woman. “You ride a bike/ Order your red eye coffee and I/ Think you like trying to outsmart me,” Givertz sings. Then, the song flips. “I might be just as guilty,” she admits. “‘Cause I’m a sucker for your fragility.”

Givertz, 28, plays the banjo and guitar, and commands attention with a piercing, expressive voice.

“ It's like a yodel, but it's not,” she said. “It sounds like it should be uncomfortable, but it is a really comfy spot for my voice and I love it.”

Givertz grew up in Florida and has lived in Boston for 10 years. She speaks openly about how being Black and biracial in Boston’s predominantly white folk scene can be alienating.

“ I was honestly sick of being in rooms where I'd look around and I was literally the only person of color,” she said.

For her new album, Givertz prioritized hiring musicians of color. She also worked with musicians who identify as LGBTQ and disabled – she herself deals with chronic pain due to arthritis. In the end, everyone on the album fell into at least one of those categories.

“It really was just a culmination of people who love music and haven't been heard in the past in the way that they deserve,” Givertz said.

But the emotional core of Givertz’ new album is the title track, “Midnight Feature.” It opens with a lone acoustic guitar and then swells cinematically. “I've been playing our midnight feature/ To an empty theater,” Givertz sings. “Watch the credits roll/ There's no encore.”

The song is looking back at the end of her first love – a dramatic relationship that ended in dramatic fashion. It reminded her of a movie. She recalled the day she wrote it.

“I just started singing, ‘There’s no encore,’” Givertz said. “That was the moment I was just like, it's over. It's done. It wasn't a movie and we're human beings and life sucks sometimes, and sometimes it doesn't work out.”

There is a melancholy tinge to many of the songs on “Midnight Feature,” accentuated by soaring strings and atmospheric electronics. When recording, Givertz allowed herself to experiment with new sounds, even if they weren’t traditionally “folk.”

“ I feel like it really sounds like me,” she said. “I don't feel like I'm trying to sound like anyone else, or fit any box.”

The Capitol Theatre will hold an album release party for Grace Givertz on Friday, March 13 at 9:30 p.m.