Deep longing has a new voice.
Imagine a gene lab accident. Beakers holding the DNA of Bob Mould, Elisabeth Fraser and David Lynch crash to the floor, their contents mixing and recombining as they drip down the wall toward an electrical outlet. Days after the cleanup, the technicians lean over their benches. In a corner, behind a seam in the flesh-colored linoleum baseboard where the mops couldn't reach, is a still-damp spot...
She calls it Acoustic/Synth Pop. Emo/HyperHookHop, Marge, whatever it's called, Rachel Margaret's music is supercharged with truth and mysterious beauty in ways that only the profoundly gift-twisted can bring.
How does she get such concentrated power into her work? "Sometimes I'm driving down the road and words and music just come into my head. I find the best songs come to me pretty quickly, and in weird places. I want to connect with people, but I'm kind of a geek. Music's like hooking up my heart to a microphone. It's by far the easiest way for me to communicate."
"Rachel has that crucial faculty of self-criticality that amplifies her talent and makes her material shine", says producer Bonnie Hayes. "In my experience, that's what separates the great ones from everybody else."
Rachel is currently breaking on the "new songwriter" circuit with songs from her recent EP "Buena Vista Park", and an untitled work in progress. On the day of this writing, for example, her songs occupy the top seven places out of nearly seven thousand entries in the prestigious "Sirius Fan Choice Award" original music competition sponsored by Sirius Satellite Radio in association with Pop Montreal: http://popmontreal.com/en/popthumbs/
What does she think of this first blush of success? "I enjoy the process of working with innovative types, pushing out music in a very limited context and playing live. My concept of success is all wrapped up in that stuff. So the fact that it's a contest based on people listening to the songs and voting for what they like is really exciting. It means I'm connecting with them through this music, and that feels great." The conversation turns to labels and agents and publicity, and soon Rachel holds up her hands. "The business part of it can make my ears buzz, is that a bad sign?" She waves her arms around her head and laughs, "Swarm of bees! Swarm of bees!"
A product of the University of Texas and the Ecole Normale Superieur de Musique in Paris (the one not in Texas), Rachel works as a tech writer and a dog walker, and is currently in in graduate school in the Bay Area. "More and more, I just want to sing my songs live. Sometimes when the band's locked in, I feel almost like crying, but great at the same time. I haven't had that feeling doing anything else professionally, and I doubt I ever will."
There is a tangible element of sadness and longing to the work that is evocative of love gone wrong. Is it true to life? "Well, basically, I am pretty cynical about love at the moment, but that doesn't mean I'll stay that way. I guess maybe right now it's more fun to write about love with perspective. It's like a tightrope act. It's only interesting if it's way off the ground and there isn't a net."
Music for acrobats.
Check it out at: sonicbids.com/rachelmargaret
