(2023) Rachel Garlin - The Ballad of Madelyne & Therese        


Review:
An out and proud member of the LGBTQ+ community, Rachel Garlin has crafted a sonic work of historical fiction about forbidden love set against war-torn, socially-staid 1940’s America. For the album The Ballad of Madelyne & Therese, Garlin is backed by a full band that features bassist/co-producer Jonny Flaugher (Lady Blackbird), organist Kenneth Crouch (Eric Clapton, Mariah Carey), guitarist David Levita (Tim McGraw), drummer Michael Jerome (Better Than Ezra), along with special guests on horns and flutes. Garlin says “I’ve always been fascinated by stories about women-loving-women throughout history. How/when/where have these relationships and identities existed during different eras and across cultures? Narrowing my focus to two women in 1940s New York, I explored my interest by writing some historical fiction on the topic”. She hopes it will become a musical one day. If it does, don’t expect a ‘Stephen Sondheim’ kind of musical with theatrical voices by the like of ‘Mandy Patinkin’ or ‘Bernadette Peters’. These are songs in the traditional popular music sense. As a stand-alone album (and away from the stage) the first thing that springs to mind is Garlin’s voice and its similarity to Suzanne Vega. Her relaxed tone and lovely harmonies come to life in the slower songs. There are not many up-tempo numbers which is a slight shame as the opener ‘Havin Slept On It’ bolts out the door to the listener, marred only by an over-the-top saxophone solo that makes it sound a little dated, like it could have been taken from a 1980s record. It’s a little out of place against the other tracks. It is a mixed-bag album with some tracks that have a continuity of sound with similar musical instruments on most tracks, i.e. fender rhodes, swirling organ pads and electric guitar. The playing is quite safe in the main, occasionally lacking a little grit on a few songs but still enjoyable if you are not looking for a modern-sounding album. The band are very tight, that’s for sure. The bass player in particular stands out with a few McCartney-esque descending bass lines that work so well. Talent is abundant behind this album, that is very clear, worth repeated playing to let the nuances sink in. If Suzanne Vega had made this it would be seen as one of her best albums. She could learn a lot from Rachel Garlin.— americanaUK


 


Track List:
01 - Having Slept On It
02 - Please Therese
03 - You Don't Know
04 - Nothing Has Changed
05 - Louisa
06 - Yellow
07 - Night Time
08 - Melancholy Blue
09 - Never Cabaret
10 - Speak
11 - Madelyne Why
12 - Shame On Me
13 - Ocean Meets the Sky


Media Report:
Genre: americana, folk-rock
Country: San Francisco, California, USA
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits
Compression mode: Lossless
Writing library: libFLAC 1.2.1 (UTC 2007-09-17)


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