Domo Origato, Rachael Yamagata
by Timothy C. Davis
Rachael Yamagata's piano-driven songs are nothing if not torchy. If all the old flames mentioned during one of her incendiary live shows were gathered together, they could light the Louvre. On the singer-songwriter's 2008 release Elephants…Teeth Sinking Into Hearts (subtitled A Record in Two Parts), Yamagata, tired of heartbreak (and heart-breaking), decides to split her own record in two. Side A is filled with the heartsick balladry she's known for, while Side B trades in the come-hither key twinklers for overdriven guitar and get-out-of-my-face fuck-yous. Why hasn't she received the attention given, say, a Fiona Apple, Norah Jones or Sarah McLachlan? Simple: Yamagata is neither weird, mainstream nor maudlin enough, and she prefers clear-headed concision over the confessional when it comes time to lay it down. In whichever sense of the phrase.
Mon., March 16, 8 p.m., 2009
Mon., March 16, 8 p.m., 2009
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