Rachael Yamagata
SHE'S HAPPENING
Rachael Yamagata Makes Waves with Her Stunning Debut, Happenstance
Long before the release of her debut full-length, Happenstance, Rachael Yamagata managed to tickle plenty of the right ears with her wildly varied, unfailingly in-your-face style. The Chicago-based singer-songwriter cut her teeth in a funk band called Bumpus, which played the usual array of grueling live shows, then decided to follow her muse as a solo artist. Her initial demo reached the management of David Gray, who pegged her to open a gig at Madison Square Garden -- although it was only the second time she'd been onstage alone. Not long thereafter, Yamagata was included on the star-studded Toots & the Maytals disc True Love, the sole newcomer among performers such as Bonnie Raitt, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, and Willie Nelson. Happenstance gives ample evidence that the buzz was merited, with Yamagata manifesting mastery of styles as varied as folk, cabaret, and pure pop. She sat down with Barnes & Noble.com's David Sprague to explain why Happenstance is anything but.
Barnes & Noble.com: You've been compared to artists as varied as Fiona Apple and Norah Jones. What do you feel about that?
Rachael Yamagata: Rachael Yamagata: Its funny, I just don't see the basis for some of those comparisons. Like, during one of my shows some kid yelled out, "Oh look, it's Norah Jones but on a heavy bender PCP trip!" [laughs] But when someone writes, "Smokey Voice Girl Sings a Ballad" you automatically get a Norah comparison. I guess my difference is that I float between genres -- I love balladry but I also love rock. Like, I'm a big fan of Elton John, Rufus Wainwright, and Jeff Buckley. I don't associate myself with people like Norah Jones, but I can see where some writers get it.
B&N.com: For an artist who's been pegged as a "singer-songwriter," you seem to pay a lot of attention to arrangements and such.
RY: I went into the recording really drawn to a very stark production style and wanted to stay away from anything that sounded produced. But once I got into the studio, that changed.... I started looking into different arrangements, like of cellos or oboes or whatever I heard in my head. I was free enough to experiment.
B&N.com: Which came first for you, singing or writing?
RY: They came around the same time, actually. When I was about ten, I started walking down the street, making up songs and singing melodies...until I noticed someone was following me, which creeped me out enough to make me stop immediately. [laughs] But I've always really done both. Usually when I write, it all happens at the same time, and things just kind of flow from me.
B&N.com: Was it easy for you to get up onstage in front of people in the first place?
RY: It was hypnotic. For me, it was something I was pulled to do. I was scared out of my mind. When I first started singing for Bumpus, this thing would happen where my whole mouth would completely dry out the minute they opened the curtain, and I couldn't even open my mouth. If it was totally natural, that probably wouldn't have happened, but it's become something of an addiction now because it's so instantly gratifying.
B&N.com: Quite a few of the songs on Happenstance seem to have a personal, almost confessional tone to them, especially something like "Worn Me Down."
RY: Oh yeah. I think it's pretty much the universal love triangle thing of being involved with someone who hasn't given up their past love that was just before. You know, the obsessions that come out of that, and the torture you put yourself through trying to measure up to something you know almost nothing about. For me, that's happened time and time again, unfortunately. But that song is about someone I fell head-over-heels for, and he was still in love with his ex-girlfriend. I became as obsessed with her as he was.
B&N.com: Does it take some effort to take such personal experiences and make them public?
RY: I think that I went through about six years without showing those songs to anyone, because I was too afraid. I was always able to write that way, but I couldn't take them to anyone. The first time I did, the people I chose to show them to sort of laughed and said, "Oh, you're so depressed," and that freaked me out. That closed me off for a while, and then the next time I showed my songs to someone, I got a record deal.
B&N.com: The album seems to get more upbeat towards the end, though, with songs like "I Want You."
RY: Sure, the Judy Garland klezmer experience, right? Dan Wilson [of Semisonic, one of her collaborators] came up with that arrangement. The whole frenetic production kind of revolved around the piano part, which is kind of jumpy and crazy. We wrote the song together and then stared at each other for hours trying to figure out what to do with it. I had just gone through this experience with someone who was a musician and he was telling me about this French fan who was obsessed with him, and I used that and my own obsession with him [laughs] to sort of carry the song.
B&N.com: Besides keyboards, you play a lot of different instruments on Happenstance. Are you one of those people who can pick up anything at will?
RY: Not exactly. I started on flute, but I kept passing out and that stopped me from pursuing that. But if you know the flute you can pick up harmonica and know what you're doing and get a sound out of it. I think having a background in piano helps with guitar too, because you're using both hands and coordinating the same muscles, and I'm still learning guitar as fast as possible.
June 2004
© 2009 All Media Guide, LLC