Among a slate of big releases this week (Bob Dylan, Jolie Holland) and next (Lucinda) comes the new album from Rachael Yamagata complete with an unwieldy title, Elephants... Teeth Sinking Into Heart: A Record In Two Parts. This semi-double album (9 tracks on Disc 1, 5 on Disc 2) covers a lot of territory and bears the mark of a rock opera, all moody reflection on the front half and all angsty rock on the home stretch. That description probably won't win the album many converts, but fans of Yamagata already know that she transcends the usual lazy labels that critics try to pin on her.
There's much to digest on this record, and I won't pretend that I've absorbed it all. But this is one helluva leap forward from her previous excellent disc Happenstance.
You can hear the album(s) in its entirety over at
Indie911.
