Sarah E. Moffett

If you have to take sides with the animals
Won’t you do it with one who is kind

Ever heard someone sing tears and then talk laughter? That would be Rachael Yamagata performing liquid melodies at the Birchmere last night while celebrating she and her twin brother’s 30th birthday party. Her emotionally visceral lyrics were fabulously juxtaposed against her running monologue that included shout outs to her father—“Dad, couldn’t you get here on time for your daughter’s show”—and self-effacing admissions that in her adolescence she brooded to Michael Bolton while journaling about whether she would ever have a boyfriend.

Who admits that?

She does and then noted, “and now I’ve turned it into a career…well, not the Michael Bolton part.” Fellow DC blogger, Club D, wrote that “singer/songwriter, pianist, and guitarist Rachael Yamagata joked that half the people at the Birchmere last night were either related to her or worked for her family. Wherever they emerged from, hundreds of fans flocked to this sold-out show. In the spring, Yamagata played there on a co-bill with Landon Pigg and, only drew a fraction of the crowd.” It looks like others are cluing into the lyrical poet with a sultry voice and magical understanding. With her new dual disc album Elephants and Teeth Sinking Into Heart coming out October 7, I can only selfishly hope that she doesn’t change with her inevitable fortune and fame that even has the attention of Rolling Stone here. After all, it takes a gritty but wise and real human begin to say,

So for those of you falling in love keep it kind
Keep it good
Keep it right
Throw yourself in the midst of danger but keep one eye open at night

Other Yamagata Posts:

Music Makes a Comeback
Post Tour Psychosis with Rachael Yamagata

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