Amazing...shows promise, without a doubt
I came across Rachael Yamagata through a magazine..cant remember which but anyway, they wrote a short article about her. one day i was @ Borders & found her cd.. on impulse or perhaps Happenstance, i bought it. i usually buy my cds this way: buy it because i like one song & luckily i've been fortunate enough to end up growing into all the songs so i end up liking the whole album. with Rachael Yamagata, it was different. I didnt know who she was & had never heard her music. but i bought it & i'm so glad i did. she is somewhat similar to Fiona Apple but she is more optimistic. on the 4th track, Letter Read, she sounded alot like Janis Joplin what with the sultry sound of the legendary Joplin(whom i also love). my personal favorite tracks are "Be Be Your Love", "Worn Me Down" & "1963" though it is very difficult to choose a favorite. I give this cd 4 stars because of the hidden track which i personally think could have been left out. other than that ONE hidden track, this cd is amazing! its uplifting, despite the topic of love & heartbreak(in "Worn Me Down" she sings about her boyfriend loving another girl). She is also talented having written most of the insightful,beautiful lyrics & music. I was stunned by this cd & i am now happy to call myself a fan of Rachael Yamagata's. I'm definitely going to buy her second album & however more she creates. its great music. try listening to at least one of her tracks; i promise you wont regret it.
Finally, someone who can really sing!
Listening to this album is like stepping onto an oasis, after hearing one insipid and mediocre female singer-songwriter wannabe after another over the past few years (I'm a womens college grad, go figure).Rachael, who I knew from way back at our girls' prep school in DC, has some wistful words, sung in a powerful voice that alternately growls and reminisces. Whatever she does, she commands you to listen - in her sweet way. No whining lyrics nor wilted voice here - her songs are observing, even incanting, with occasional sincere (but not screeching) proposals to an unseen lover. Her piano playing is funky and yes, does recall Fiona Apple sometimes, but her voice - that Janis Joplin growl - forget it. No one sings like this, at least no one I've heard on a major label. I don't get the Norah Jones comparisons at all.
There's some sugary female songs here but she gets away with it. Personally, I find the hits-to-be like "Worn me Down" to be the weakest songs, but I'm sure the teenyboppers will dig them. There's something for everyone on this album - for me it's "Under My Skin," a ballad that expresses ambiguity so perfectly. Who can write about that well except maybe Bob Dylan and those other rare writers who can also write songs?
Rachael Yamagata has produced an impressive debut album - I'm amazed at how far her music has come in only a few years. I remember becoming a fan hearing her in Anything Goes in high school - it is a pleasure to see her develop as an artist.
Love ya Rach - minda
Rachael Rock!!!
I just purchased this CD and haven't been able to stop listening. Give it a try!
Shows promise
I've been following Rachael since her Bumpus days in the mid-90s. When I saw she was no longer in the lineup, I did some research and discovered she had embarked on a solo career. Not surprising, as the second Bumpus album "Stereoscope" made it clear that her writing style was sharply diverging from Bumpus' signature hi-energy whiteboy-funk sound.
When I heard sound samples from her EP, I was sorely disappointed and thought perhaps it was time to write this cat off. I happened to see this album displayed at Barnes & Noble, so I gave a listen to the sound samples at one of their sampling stations. I was pleasantly surprised by what I heard. The production quality was much better and the instrumentation much more rich and complete. Some of the tunes are long and ballad-like, which isn't quite my style, but they're well written and sung with decent emotional range. There are a few catchy, bouncy melodies as well that would make nice additions to VH1's rotation.
Of this album, I have two complaints. One, she sometimes tries to sing with a "rough" voice like she's a soul sister. Nice idea but it doesn't work with her buttery-smooth voice that is better suited for pop and sultry work than growling. Two, the subject matter gets a bit tiresome after a while. She sounds positively obsessed with some past and/or unrequited love. A fine theme for a song or two, but after listening to a whole album worth of pining, I just want to shout, "get over it already!"
I'm also concerned that this may be as good as it gets, based on her own comments: "Look to the second album for a more cynical approach in which it all goes to hell and nothing makes sense." I appreciate the idea of pushing artistic boundaries and all, but I still prefer music that makes sense.
Beautiful album from a fresh talent
Rachael Yamagata has been compared to many female artists -- you can hear a hint of Fiona Apple, Lizzie West, Natalie Merchant, and Erin McKeown in her voice. But that's just it -- only a hint.
Rachael has blown onto the scene with her album, "Happenstance," packed end to end with amazing vocals and great orchestration. You know you have something rare and beautiful when it is hard to pick a favorite song on the album because each one, in its own rite, is magnificent.
Definitely check out this album this summer -- it is great to listen to over a candlelight dinner, on your cd player at the beach, or driving 80 down the highway with your windows down. I expect really great things from Ms. Yamagata in the future.
There is a combustible quality about newcomer Rachael Yamagata that for a lot of listeners will call to mind Fiona Apple: A first spin of Happenstance can make you itch with the thrill of discovery, but it also leaves behind the impression that its singer is vaguely dangerous; which is exactly what makes these songs so absorbing. "Everybody's talking how I can't be your love," she pouts in a melodically engineered stutter on opener "Be Be Your Love," one of several tracks pairing her with a piano that seems to take the brunt of the punishment for her wrecked relationships. The rest of the disc unravels with similar heat: When she growls in her full-time rasp that "(You've) worn me down/like a road/I did everything you told" on the very infectious indie-rock leaning "Worn Me Down," you believe her. But the less stormy numbers work as well, with "1963" coming off as flower-power pop grounded by a voice that knows better and "I Want You" wending its way through a fat, heartsick wallow to emerge someplace burnt in honesty. A late minute-long instrumental feels more tasteful than pretentious, adding to a monster of a debut already fueling hopes that happenstance--the term, not the album--will play a miniscule part in Yamagata's eventual output. --Tammy La Gorce
Happenstance…the never can be…
Main Entry: hap·pen·stance; Etymology: happen + circumstance: A circumstance especially that is due to chance. - Merriam Webster Dictionary
I apologize for insisting on writing my own bio, but I just can not be satisfied with another’s account of my psyche when even I don’t understand it myself. Welcome to the world of this indecisive control freak hopeless romantic…
Happenstance, produced by John Alagia (John Mayer, Dave Matthews etc.), is a collection of songs inspired by my obsessions, often love related, but not always. It’s about the battle between chance circumstances and the belief that everything happens for a reason. The title and the back cover addition of ‘the never can be’ suggest that I’m not really endorsing chance, but, in fact insisting that there must be a reason for repeated broken hearts – perhaps a promise of a better situation, learning experience, the greater love etc. It’s a circular argument… and it’s merely a matter of ‘happenstance’ that the title is what it is anyway. Without the hopefulness of reason, how could anyone weather the highs and lows of relationships and this delightful junk called love.
Look to the second album for a more cynical approach in which it all goes to hell and nothing makes sense and chance is winning…
