Rachel Yamagata - Happenstance (Sony/BMG 16/05/2005) - Album Review

**** Rachel Yamagata

Rachel Yamagata - Happenstance (Sony/BMG 16/05/2005) - Album Review

Rachel Yamagata
Happenstance
(Sony/BMG 16/05/2005) The album title is a tad ironic when thinking about this 26 year old American born of German/Italian parents, as music has been a natural part of her life for as long as golf clubs have been an extension of Tiger Woods’ anatomy. ‘Happenstance’ is a throbbing thirteen track foray into the mystical musical world of this immensely talented young madam. Rachel’s maturity and talent strike you cold in the instrumentally throbbing ‘Worn Me Down’, whereby feelings of burden and helplessness are conveyed via Tori Amos, spiked with bits of P.J. Harvey and KT Tunstall vocals. The tingling Katie Melua like ‘1983’ is a free spirited pop song to be proud of, as poetry and enthusiasm mingle together for a rare meeting in this modernworldof ours.

document.write('<SCR'+'IPT src="http://ads.contactmusic.com/advertpro/servlet/view/banner/javascript/zone?zid=88&pid=15&custom1=y&random='+Math.floor(89999999*Math.random()+10000000)+'" language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">'+'IPT>'); Floating piano melodies slide along neatly with Rachel’s powerful yet soothing vocals to lift tracks like ‘Reasons Why’ and ‘Quiet’ into the ethereal category. Lyrically this album contains traces of wisdom, defiance and cynicism when this intelligent artist discovers that people and the world around her are not always to be trusted. ‘I’ll Find A Way’ showcases the perspicacity and emotion contained on this offering; ‘I used to think that anything I’d do wouldn’t matter at all anyway.
But now I find that when it comes to you I’m the winner of cards
I can’t play.’

This crisp and cosmopolitan songstress has certainly come to age, expressing a wide range of feelings and emotions without ever losing focus and direction.

www.rachelyamagata.com

David Adair