Singer/songwriter Rachael Yamagata

In order to continue in our grand tradition of making sure the music coverage here consists of illuminating interviews with artists you should have heard of, even if you might not have yet, I bring to you Rachael Yamagata, whose double album Elephants... Teeth Sinking Into Heart is taking the music world by storm, and rightly so; it truly is lyrical and masterful. In this interview, Rachael and I talk Philly, we mourn for the loss of record stores like Tower Records, and I admonish her when she confides that she has never seen The Lion King. Enjoy.

Hi, Rachael, it’s nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you. How are you doing?

I’m good, how are you?
Good, thank you.

So right now are you doing a tour for your album?
No, I just got off touring. I got home about two days ago, so I am off until January, which is fine by me! [laughs]

Holiday break—just in time!
I know, right? [laughs] Yeah, it’ll be good.

Where are you based?
I’m in Philadelphia. I moved here about a year and a half ago from Woodstock, NY.

How’s living in Philadelphia?
It’s going great so far. Yeah, it’s got a great music scene, and I’m right around when the World Series happens, and the people here are really nice and laid-back, and it’s just enough of a city but not too big… you can fly direct! [laughs] You know, which is great. A lot of things.

Has the city influenced your musical development?
Um, no; just in terms of being great supporters of me, there’s a great [radio] station here, there are some amazing venues, and I love to travel and I’ve been in a lot of cities. Yeah, Philly’s been really supportive, which is nice.

Where did you grow up?
Maryland and DC, mainly.

So did you get involved in music while you were growing up?
It was mostly doing music theatre in school. That was the most that I’d done. I played piano on the side and wrote some songs but I didn’t really start pursuing it and joining a band until I was in college, and I guess that just finally formed around 2000.

Yeah, I know that for a while you were a part of a band called Bumpus, right?
Yes.

How did you decide you wanted to start a solo career and leave the group that you were in?
I didn’t, actually. I had no intention of leaving that group. I just was writing songs on the side for my own, you know, my own pastime, and the band I was in was very different. There were three lead singers, much more influenced by a full kind of hip-hop, alternative and funk vibe, and I was doing a couple covers in that band and one or two originals but mostly very, very different things from what I’ve done on tours, and I was in that band for about six or seven years, and a friend of mine introduced me to a scout at my label, and I just randomly sent in a couple songs and it led very quickly to a label showcase for my own material.

There’s been a lot of attention centered around this album—forgive me, I was twelve when your last album came out [laughter]—so was there this kind of reception when you received your first album?
There was a lot of press around the first album, yeah. It did get a lot of attention when it first came out.

I know between your last record and this one you ended up switching labels.
I did. I was on RCA before and now I’m on Warner Brothers.

So how did that happen? Basically, just the shifting of the business world. They cut half their roster and I was on that list. They were really sweet to me and gave me my record back and whatnot, so it wasn’t a difficult parting, but it did take up a lot of years to sort it out.

So now you’ve got your new album, Elephants… Teeth Sinking Into Heart. Great title, by the way.
Thank you!

So where did you get a lot of inspiration for this album?
Just two years of really intense traveling and touring. I certainly draw a lot from relationships, whether they’re my own or what I see around me. Definitely how we as people treat each other in relationships, that’s a big driving force.

So it was definitely more based on people and emotions than inspiration from books, films.
Yeah, it’s kind of based on observation and how I see the world and what’s happening around me. Things like that, yeah.

How do you think your style has matured since your first album?
I think this one’s a bit more abstract, more poetic musically. Sound-wise, there’s certainly a different type of instrument being used. The ballads are a lot more lush, there’s a lot of orchestration on it, and we did a bunch of guitar-driven songs, which I hadn’t really delved into that much before.

What are some of your musical influences, especially for this album?
It’s all over the place, really. There were those I discovered very late, like Led Zeppelin. Even the Beatles. Definitely David Bowie and Tom Waits, Elton John…

Speaking of Elton John—one of the greatest Disney showtune writers.
He is, definitely.

I watched The Lion King just earlier today.
How is it? I’ve never seen it, actually.

You’ve never seen The Lion King!?
I’ve never seen The Lion King.

You should see it. It’s great. And my respect for Disney also skyrocketed when I found out that Lion King 1 ½ is based off of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.
Oh, wow! [laughs] Crazy, now I’ll definitely watch it.

Yeah, well, the original is an update of Hamlet with talking animals, so. Good stuff.
[laughs]

I actually wanted to ask you—this has been happening for a while—what do you think about the way music has been shifting from less of a physical presence with CDs and stores to something almost exclusively online?
I think it’s just a real loss of ritual in listening to music that’s the most unfortunate thing. The exposure of having everything online is a tremendous positive for people who want to learn about new music, but I think the closing down of the record stores, vinyl relatively disappearing, things like that, is a big thing of like—instead of sitting down to read a book, you’re reading it off a Blackberry because you downloaded it, you know? There’s a ritual that I think is getting lost.

Right. Yeah, I completely agree. When Tower Records closed, and I think it was maybe a year and a half ago at this point, I was devastated.
Yeah. Sure!

And it’s beginning to happen to books too—the only reason books aren’t online as much as music is now is because they haven’t found a way to make electronic paper as cheap as regular paper.
Oh, really? [laughs]

They’re working on it! They’re working really hard, which is—I wish the wouldn’t, but you know.
Yeah, right? It’s crazy.

It takes some of the community out of it. No more going to a store to get a CD. “I want it so I’ll click a button on iTunes.”
Yep. I hear ya.

Speaking of which, are you a big reader?
I’m a reader as much as I can, but I’m pretty lucky with people giving me books. I just started Things the Grandchildren Should Know. It’s great.

Do you prefer modern literature or the classics?
I guess both. I love Wuthering Heights as much as the books my friends give me, so I’m all over the place. [laughs]

To find out more about Rachael and her music visit her website or her MySpace.