Rachael Yamagata
 

Has anyone here heard of her? I went to the Ottawa Blues Festival for a day and caught the last song in her set, and liked it so much I bought an album of hers (Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart). It's split up per disc as Elephants (being the first disc) and Teeth Sinking Into Heart. I haven't listened fully to Teeth Sinking Into Heart, as the initial sound was kind of a turn-off because it's far different from the other disc, but I listened to Elephants and it completely blew me away. I thought it was the best record I've heard in a while. It's a very soft and intimate record, with a really lush, beautiful sound. The instrumentation is really great, with lots of piano, strings and guitar throughout a lot of it. I think she's a great singer actually, there's a lot of dynamic to her vocal style that's really.....human I suppose. Compositionally I thought the record was really great as well. Somehow I found the whole of it quite moving. I strongly to suggest it to anyone (as long as this type of music appeals to you).

Here's a couple tracks from the album (I recommend the studio version of Sunday Afternoon)....

Elephants live



Sunday Afternoon



Sunday Afternoon Acoustic