 |
Happenstance
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
Buy
Tracks| 1 | Be Be Your Love | | 2 | Letter Read | | 3 | Worn Me Down | | 4 | Paper Doll | | 5 | I?ll Find A Way | | 6 | 1963 | | 7 | Under My Skin | | 8 | Meet Me By The Water | | 9 | Even So | | 10 | I Want You | | 11 | Reason Why | | 12 | Moments With Oliver | | 13 | Quiet |
Copyright © 2009 NetVision. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Statement
|
