Rachael Yamagata emerged as a solo artist in 2003 with her eponymous EP featuring piano-driven pop-rock and an emphasis on lyrics that touched a core in many of her fans. Her music has been featured in a variety of television programs and movies, including The O.C. and Definitely, Maybe. After a long break between her first full-length album(Happenstance, 2004), she released a double album last fall entitled Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart. This month, she is on tour to support the album release, and I had the opportunity to speak with her on the phone recently about the new album, audience reaction to it, and her songwriting process.

I happened upon it because I was always into piano as a safety zone hobby that would make me feel better. I'd go off somewhere, find an empty room, and play piano for hours. I've done it all my life — when I was at home and through college, even. I just loved to play.

Songwriting came about by chance. I'd always written songs on the fly and improv things, but never wrote them down or kept track of them. I thought I was going to pursue theater and be an actress, but when I wrote my first song and really paid attention, I became completely intoxicated by the process. More so than I ever felt with somebody else's character.

There is drive to express and process what I go through. [Songwriting] became the best form for me — more than speaking with a friend or writing in a journal. Something about being able to put a melody, instrument, and lyrics together made me feel better. It's an internal angst of sorts that made me become a songwriter. I needed a way to express myself in a way that said what I needed to say, and that's what it became.

Have you noticed any shift in your writing process over the years?

Yes and no. I think that I wrote two very different records between this one (Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart) and the last one (Happenstance). I think this one was somewhat influenced by the environment I was in when I wrote it. With the first record, I spent several months in Chicago, and with this past record I was secluded up in the woods near Woodstock, New York. I would stay up late writing, and I think somehow the nature elements, the seclusion, and the romantic experience of being so isolated seeped into the music. The writing environment definitely helped to color this record.

Article Author: Anna Creech

Anna Creech is a librarian and blogger who dreams of a day when she can improve the ratio of read-to-unread books in her house.

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