Rachael Yamagata
Table of contents |
General
Rachael Yamagata is a singer-songwriter in her late 20's. She plays piano and has a dark, smokey alto, garnering frequent comparisons to Fiona Apple. Her first album, Happenstance was released in 2004.
Biography
A child of divorced parents, Yamagata divided her time between her mother in New York City and her Japanese father in Washington, DC. She maintains close relationships with both, including nostalgic pictures of them in the liner notes of Happenstance, as well as crediting both in interviews with the person she is today.
College-Hopping
Yamagata initially headed to Northwestern to study French. She transferred to Vassar to study Italian theater, but her acting coach at Vassar moved colleges to teach at Barnard College at Columbia University. Yamagata followed this acting coach, but then went back to Northwestern to join their theater program. During her junior year, she befriended the funk band Bumpus, a mainstay in the Chicago music scene.
Bumpus and Solo Career
Yamagata became the vocalist for Bumpus, spending six years writing and recording three albums with the band and touring the country. However, the songs she began to write took on a different style that conflicted with the funk vision of the band. In 2001, Yamagata decided to take the songs she was writing and launch a solo career. In September 2002, she landed a deal with Arista's Private Music and her self-titled EP came out in October. Her first full-length album, Happenstance, followed in June 2004.
Music
Happenstance mostly consists of layered vocals, rhythmic piano, and tasteful production fluroishes. "I Want You" features several members of the Klezmatics, the premiere Klezmer group in the country while "1963" contains jangly guitars that recall the Jackson Five. The first single "Worn Me Down" is featured in a video wherein Yamagata is caged in a glass box on top of a moving platform, presumably in a Mexican parade. While many personally connect to Yamagata's lyrics of heartbreak and love, others find them trite ("And I'm afraid and I can't breathe/And I'm in love with you/But you are not with me" from "Letter Read"). Still Yamagata has garnered a considerable fanbase; her exotic looks, "in"-sound, and ample piano talent signify a major star in the making.