weltschmerz

I first discovered and wrote about Rachael Yamagata pretty much exactly a year ago. She's come a long way since then: she performed on The O.C. (Season 2 Episode 11, in case you were wondering -- not that I watch the show) and appeared at Glastonbury last week. Having missed her gigs at The Enterprise a few months back, I wasn't going to make the same mistake with last night's show at the ICA.

Supporting was a young American singer-songwriter named Johnathan Rice (note spelling). The one-man-and-guitar act isn't easy to pull off, and despite Rice's best efforts, the overwhelming feeling I got from his 45-minute set was one of dreariness and tedium. The songs, while not poor per se, all sounded similar and dragged on for too long. Several of the song titles had connections with war -- not sure if I'm missing something there.

And so on to the main act. RY opened her set, as she did her debut LP, with "Be Be Your Love". A full band provided the backing, including the obligatory cellist and violinist (I wonder what classical musicians think of them). The setlist comprised a good mix of tracks from her self-titled EP and the Happenstance LP, plus unrecorded new material. "Why Did I Leave" (formerly known as "What About Steve", we were informed) was showcased as a song that will appear on the next album, with recording due to start in August.

The double whammy of "Letter Read" and "Worn Me Down", arguably her two best songs, provided the highlight of the evening; the latter included an audience-sung chorus. RY's rapport with the smallish crowd was excellent all night; there were anecdotes about London cabbies, performing in Glastonbury's trance tent (!), and even some scatological humour. The encore included "Reason Why" (the O.C. track) and the hidden track from Happenstance, a duet for which Johnathan Rice returned to the stage.

It was, overall, a decent gig. I think the majority of the audience expected more songs from the LP, and I would certainly have enjoyed hearing "Under My Skin" and "1963" live, but she can't be faulted for serving up a varied setlist.

I was admittedly disappointed that the stripped-down version of "Worn Me Down", which introduced me to RY in the first place, didn't feature. If you missed it last year, no worries, because it's been reposted at Achtung Baby!.