An Interview with Rachael Yamagata - Page 3

Consciously?

Yeah, consciously. I never sit around looking at animals and relating them to humans (laughs). It just worked.

How did working with Ray LaMontagne on “Duet” come about?

Well, we’ve known each other for quite a few years. And I always felt like our voices would complement each other’s so well because it’s such a dark and intimate vibe to the song. He was a very natural choice for me. I also loved the idea of, lyrically, portraying these two characters, two people in their careers – especially life on the road – who have no ill intentions; it’s just reality. You always meet musicians on the road whose personal life has just gone to Hell. And I’ve never heard a song that specifically referenced that, how you can love your art and how it can destroy everything else. But you keep hoping.

There’s a music ebb and flow to the album. Do you see any thematic or narrative arc to it?

I do. I feel like “Elephants,” in particular, that song, sets up the record from the point of view of somebody who’s a bit more weathered and educated than [on] the last record, in terms of entering relationships, and yet still willing to go there. [That person has] obviously been hurt in some respects. And just like animals can have such instinctual reactions to any action taken to them, there’s that danger of reacting like that on a human level.

And then you go through all of the different challenges of relationships where you question what if I leave or why are we even here? What are we going to take from these relationships when they crush us? Are we going to remember that they were worth something or are we just going to feel devastated?

A song like “Duet” is almost, like, the false promises we make to each other, the hopefulness we have that something will work. And yet the objective, outsider view is that it’s headed for disaster. You go through this record going through the heartache of something and then by “Horizon,” it’s almost like an acknowledgment that you were flattened by this relationship. You were thrown off balance, you’ve lost your horizon, but you’re still looking for it. You’re looking to make sense of it all. I feel like that closes out that side of the record.

Teeth…Sinking Into Heart is really more about once you’ve regained your footing a little bit and you start to translate this experience into reclaiming your backbone. And you showcase that defiance, but you’re still sassy and a bit tongue-in-cheek with some of the songs, like “Don’t.” It’s a transition that you go through. I like ending it with “Don’t” because it’s not blaming the heartache on the relationship and you hate somebody. It’s not cynical.

Article Author: Donald Gibson

A contributing music editor at Blogcritics, Donald Gibson devotes most of his writing to music criticism, paying particular attention to the craft and aesthetic of songwriting. He holds a B.A. in English from the University of South Florida.
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