Elephants… Teeth Sinking into Heart

Sunday, 23 November 2008 in Music, Video
Tags: album review, cd reviews, elephants, Elephants...Teeth Sinking into Heart, jack johnson, music, music review, Rachael Yamagata, reviews, rufus wainwright, teeth sinking into heart, yamagata

I was first introduced to Rachael Yamagata back in 2003 in her EP album, as much from a recommendation of a friend as i was honestly drawn by her melancholic album cover. I’m a shallow person afterall, as anyone can attest from my previous album review.

But what eventually caught my attention was really her voice, beautiful yet there’s that bit of rawness and hurt in it. I was immediately hooked on Collide and The Reason Why and the rest of the songs from that album did not disappoint. So much so that when her debut album Happenstance was released in 2004, i decided against buying it since most of the songs were already from the EP album. I thought the EP was sufficient. Short and sweet.

Five years later and away from the spotlight, she has returned with her sophomore album, Elephants…Teeth Sinking Into Heart. Sophomore albums are always difficult, for both the artist to go beyond the debut success and for the listeners from perceiving it as either “more of the same” or “drastically different.” Elephants, for better or for worse, is neither. It’s clear that Yamagata has spent the last five years polishing her signature sound, but at the same time Elephants was aimed to head for a more quiet, subtle direction.

Elephants…Teeth Sinking Into Heart is split into two discs, totalling to fifteen tracks and slightly over an hour in duration. The first track Elephants introduced the idea of the hunted and the hunter, which also explained how the tracks were arranged into the two discs — the first set about the hurt with the second about dealing with the hurt.

The track Elephants is a prime example of her strength in composing beautiful lyrics:

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

As previously mentioned, the album is overall very slow and quiet, with only a few faster tracks in the second set that may resembled the older, more familiar Rachael Yamagata. In fact, unlike Rufus Wainwright’s signature pieces that eventual build up to epic tragic proportions (Go or Go Ahead, Slideshow), Elephants feature two nine-minute songs (Sunday Afternoon, Horizon along with hidden track The Only Fault) that simply does not build up and will in ways test the listeners’ patience.

But with that thought in mind, Elephants is by no means boring. Yamagata has somehow defined herself to overcast day music the same way Jack Johnson has to sunny day music. It’s a precious album to listen whilst laying down in bed or sitting by the window, and in fact Elephants has grown on me so much that i simply can’t stop listening to it. I can’t shake away how lucid and delicate this album really is.

And whilst her songs in Elephants may not be featured in as many CW teen-dramas as before (or so have i been told, i don’t watch TV), or even isolate some of the older Yamagata fanbase who’s used to the edgier songs as Worn Me Down (In which point they can fall back on Sidedish Friend in the second set); the newer direction is just beautifully crafted and recognisable as the original. Overall Recommended.

Check out Sidedish Friend below and the track listing with the recommended ones marked with an asterisk*:

Disc: 1
1. Elephants*
2. What If I Leave*
3. Little Life
4. Sunday Afternoon*
5. Elephants (instrumental)*
6. Duet
7. Over And Over*
8. Brown Eyes
9. Horizon
10. The Only Fault (Hidden Track)

Disc: 2
1. Sidedish Friend*
2. Accident*
3. Faster*
4. Pause The Tragic Ending
5. Don’t