Rachel's - Chamber music for young rockers

Formed in 1991 in Baltimore (Maryland, USA), the Rachel's ensemble offers an original fusion of classical-style orchestral arrangements and post-rock improvisation, attempting to build a bridge between 19th-century Romanticism and contemporary rock avant-garde. The result is chamber music of great charm, minimalist and romantic, gentle and poignant, renewing the most successful experiments of the Penguin Cafè Orchestra.

The American ensemble - which has featured as many as twenty musicians over the years - is led by cellist Christian Frederickson, guitarist Jason Noble and pianist Rachel Grimes (from whom the band takes its name). Their debut album, Handwriting (1995), described as "Slint tackling Debussy", immediately showcases their romantic, decadent spleen, gathering compositions written between 1991 and 1994: "Southbound To Marion", "Saccharin", "Seratonin", Frida Kahlo's piano sonata, "Handwriting" for strings alone, plus the jazz improvisation "M Daguerre". But the album's high point is the long suite "Full On Night", halfway between chamber music and electronica.

Rachel's then went on to record the soundtrack for the ballet Music For Egon Schiele (1995), which heightens the spectral, dreamlike side of their music, with sounds that are, if anything, even more intimate and dark than on the previous record ("Promenade", "Family Portrait", "Wally Egon & Models").

But it was above all with the album The Sea And The Bells (1996), performed by some twenty musicians (drawn both from the American post-rock scene and various philharmonic orchestras), that Rachel's revealed themselves as one of the most fascinating sonic projects of the late century. Inspired by Pablo Neruda, it's a concept album devoted entirely to the theme of the sea and sailors. Thirteen tracks, an hour of music, with Rachel's piano to the fore, surrounded by violin, viola, cello, guitar, bass, drums and, fittingly, bells, creating a "sound so pure, simple and passionate" ("Transmission"). The story, which tells of the sea, of voyages and of sirens, unfolds slowly and evocatively, with an almost theatrical pace, moving between Renaissance airs ("Rhine & Courtesan") and dramatic Nyman-esque minimalism (Nyman) ("Cypress Branches"), soft piano sonatas ("Tea Merchants") and pastoral adagios ("All Is Calm"), barely sketched soundscapes ("Night At Sea") and evocative adventures ("The Voyage Of Camille").

Far from rehashing the heavy classical-tinged atmospheres of Yes or Emerson Lake & Palmer, Rachel's turn on its head the operation carried out by certain Seventies progressive rock: they don't play rock with the attitude of classical musicians, but play classical music with a rock attitude. As Ferruccio Quercetti wrote in "Music Club", it's "as if Minor Threat launched into a piano sonata". Yet among their influences, Rachel's also cite musicians such as Michael Nyman, Arvo Part, Bill Frisell, John Zorn, and rock bands like Tortoise, Don Caballero and Talk Talk.

Having reached the peak of their refined chamber post-rock avant-garde, Rachel's shifted toward a neoclassical folk-rock, comparable to the suites of Art Zoyd, Univers Zero and In The Nursery. Selenography (1999) offers a sampler of ethereal music bordering on new age, with nocturnal, romantic shades ("French Galleasse", "Forgiveness", "On Demeter"). Alongside the usual post-rock and classical themes, distinctly folk and country sounds emerge, at times even medieval ("Honeysuckle Suite"). Selenography almost comes across as an experimental soundtrack for some arthouse film or video. The music, orchestrated with strings and various woodwinds, offers intriguing airs and images, light years away from typical rock production. Backing up the Baltimore outfit, besides a fourteen-piece orchestra, are also the "mystical" voice of Giovanna Cacciola of Uzeda and the tangible presence of Bob Weston of Shellac.

With Full On Night (2000) the Rachel's enlisted the collaboration of Matmos, the leading band of the new American electronic scene, for a remix of "The Precise Temperature Of Darkness", and revisited "Full On Night" with new, increasingly refined arrangements.

Produced by Quarterstick (an offshoot of Touch & Go, home to, among others, June Of '44), the Rachel's also maintain close ties with other bands from the indie scene, between Chicago and Louisville. Rachel Grimes, for instance, collaborates with The Sonora Pine (also on Quarterstick Records), a band featuring Kevin Coultas, drummer for the Rachel's themselves and a former member of Rodan; Jason Noble (also an ex-Rodan member) plays in Shipping News; and, as mentioned, the record also features Bob Weston, bassist for Shellac (as well as producer for bands such as Archers Of Loaf, Hurl, etc.), who contributes here as bassist and sound engineer.

In 1996, moreover, the Rachel's recorded their first symphonic work together with the Turtle Bluff Orchestra of Port Townsend, Washington. They have also collaborated with filmmakers, dance companies, theatrical producers and photographers. Nurturing their love of cinema, they composed pieces for independent films and feature films, including Oliver Stone's "Any Given Sunday", Miguel Arteta's "Star Maps" and the French "Une liaison pornographique". Their music also soundtracked the documentary "A Day To Remember" on Britain's Channel 4.

It's hard to even talk about rock anymore with the Rachel's of Systems/Layers (2003). With this record, 19 tracks bound together like one enormous suite, the reference points now have to be sought elsewhere: Gavin Bryars, Philip Glass, Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Górecki, the latest Stars of The Lid...

Percussion is almost entirely absent, there's a progressive detachment from the minimal cyclicality already exploited to the point of exhaustion, the tone of the work is at times very dark yet opens up into grand romantic passages; it's a highly descriptive, expressionist, melancholic record, alternating and layering strings and instrumental parts with ambient noise, sparing use of electronics, found voices and speech, dramaturgical cellos, existential pianos, hints of isolationism, even a proper song. This is music, not acoustic navel-gazing. This time a description of the individual parts would be superfluous.

A beautiful record.

Contributions by Michele Chiusi

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google