Life! - Life People
With Yamagata, expect the unexpected
Sujin Thomas, Music Reporter
573 words
26 February 2007
Straits Times
English
(c) 2007 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
MONTHS after making a splash with her debut album in 2004, American
singer-songwriter Rachael Yamagata quietly slipped off the
radar.
While her pop album Happenstance enjoyed moderate international
success with hits such as Worn Me Down and 1963, the 28-year-old
had grander plans.
'I shut myself off from everything after about a year of touring
and started writing songs. I have about 130 songs, all finished,''
she says from her hotel room in Philadelphia.
The singer - who has a Japanese father and Italian-German mother -
was there to scout for a new home, hoping to move away from
Woodstock, New York, where she is based.
'It's just beautiful in Woodstock, but it is too quiet. And I miss
the city life,'' she adds, momentarily shifting the conversation
topic with her disarmingly sweet alto.
Yamagata performs here for the first time on March 17 at the
Esplanade as part of the Mosaic Music Festival's lineup. Her gig is
close to being sold out.
On her upcoming sophomore album, she says: 'I don't want to say
anything until I've made a final decision. But it's a bit darker
and grittier.''
She is also keeping mum on details such as what the album will be
called, how many tracks it will carry and when it will be
released.
But chances are, they would be similar to the confessional songs on
her previous album which are generally based on her own personal
relationships.
In fact, during an interview with Life! in 2005, she claimed to be
emotionally devastated, having broken up with her on-off boyfriend
just hours before.
She said then that the heartache may inspire her next album.
The boyfriend was British singer-songwriter Tom McRae, whom she had
been seeing since 2003. The couple had met at a BMG international
conference a year earlier.
Well, time has apparently healed a broken heart, for when you
remind her of what she had said, she tosses it aside.
'This one is definitely not inspired by one particular person. It's
a meshing of emotions across the board in those situations,'' she
says of her new album.
'The time frame has also been several years so it's not an album
about that. That's hilarious.''
Her career in music began in 1999 after she was kicked out of an
acting course at Northwestern University in Chicago for 'not being
good enough'', she says.
After performing with American hip-hop/funk band Bumpus, she went
solo and slowly built a following playing gigs around
Chicago.
In 2001, she opened for British singer David Gray in Detroit in
front of 5,000 people. It launched her career.
At her concert here, fans can expect the unexpected.
She says her live sets combine 'dark ballads with in-your-face
rock, high-energy numbers''.
'When people have heard my record and not seen my live show,
they're surprised by how energetic the show can actually be,'' she
says.
'I like structuring the set around a journey of energy, taking it
through highs and lows.''
Rachael Yamagata will perform at The Esplanade Concert Hall on
March 17 at 7.30pm. Tickets at $42 (restricted view), $60, $90 and
$120 (includes box seats) from Sistic ( www.sistic.com.sg , tel:
6348-5555). Life! is the official newspaper of Mosaic Music
Festival.
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