Rachel Loshak

Artist: Rachel Loshak
Label: Only Music
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Import
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 743215358329
EAN: 8804795013106
ASIN: B000024W77

Release Date: 2005-04-07

Rachel Loshak

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Tracks:

Rita (Ft Norah Jones)
China Doll
Rain
Through The Snow
You`Re The One
One Loving Thing
Hurricane
What Can I Do?
Turn Me Around
Train
We Fled
Hearts Of Snow
Come One

Album Details

Loshak's 2005 Fourth Album Comes Only from Asia, Where the First Three Songs Are Drawn from her First Two Albums, Including "Rita" which is Performed Along with Good Friend Norah Jones. Tracks 4-13 Comprise all Unique Songs.

Customer Reviews:

Another lovely, soulful record from a perfect artist........2005-05-14

I haven't anticipated any record as much as Rachel Loshak's Peach Pony for a long, long time. Her previous record, Mint, was the best record of 2003 by a country mile, and for months after hearing about it, I did a check every few days if Peach Pony was available. While the record has yet to see release in the States, it has already been released in South Korea and Denmark, and this self-titled release seems to be the South Korean version of the Peach Pony record. And Loshak's track record has been so flawless up to this point that I ordered this title without having heard a note.

And old Loshak fans can relax; while three titles on this record, "Rita", "China Doll" and "Rain", have already appeared on previous Loshak records, only one ("Rain") is the same recording, drawn from Loshak's previous record, Mint. If you don't own Mint already, "Rain" should convince you, with its swooning, starry-eyed arrangements, dead-gorgeous vocal performance, and guitarist Jason Crigler's rich, chiming tones. "China Doll" is a slightly funked-up version of the song from Loshak's first LP Firefly, and "Rita" is a jazz reconception, featuring the wonderful Norah Jones on lead and harmony vocal (Jones' backing vocalist Daru Oda guests on another track). Jones deserves warm kudos for her guest appearance, not forgetting her roots in the New York Living Room crowd of which Loshak is a part, and while Loshak and Jones' natural musical styles differ, their voices blend very well, with Jones' earthy croon and Loshak's bell-like, pure soprano augmenting each other.

The rest is new Rachel Loshak material, and it's up to the usual pristine standards of her music. What's interesting is that where her previous albums have largely been celebrations of joy and beauty, a tinge of heartbreak has crept into this record, making it a more complicated emotional experience. The Spanish-flavoured chord progression of "Hurricane" is very moody, the darkest Loshak has ever been musically, and the lyrics are almost like a direct retort to some of her previous songs: "I won't be home for you/I'll never be long for you...Now I'm here/I'd sooner disappear". Under the sunny folk-guitar figure of "What Can I Do?" is a fragile voice looking for closure on a failed relationship: "Let's walk 'til we're dead and everything's said". About half of the songs are about solitude: "The Train", "We Fled" and Hearts of Snow", for example. It's as if Loshak wants to darken her usually bright, innocent sound with expressions of sadness and empathy.

The music remains beautiful, though; Loshak's songwriting structures are tight, her melodies sure and flavoured, as usual delving into varied chord progressions centered around her bass playing, augmented by rich arrangements unafraid to evoke any genre, be it folk, jazz or film music. Crigler's mandoguitar is spine-tingling on "One Loving Thing", "The Train" features a weeping string section, and Loshak's eerie organ part on "Hearts of Snow" is almost shocking, half carnival innocence, half Gothic melodrama.

Loshak is on a major roll; she hasn't had a single weak moment since her debut EP, either on a performance or songwriting level, and this record's darker hues only makes her more interesting. Both this album and Mint are essential listening.

Music Album:

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Unsung Hero ~ Charlie Rouse

Legends of Acid Jazz: Hammond Heroes ~ Various Artists

Sleep Warm ~ Various Artists

Coloured Funeral ~ Mercyless

Fire on Ice ~ Bijan Mortazavi

Ippopotami ~ Roberto Vecchioni

I Grandi Successi ~ Banco

Magic Voices of Bulgaria ~ Bulgarka J Quartet

Akane ~ Huckleberry Finn