Rachel Margaret

“Landfill” is one of the focal points on “Buena Vista Park”, and while the instrumentation is softly-stated and meanders around the vocals, Margaret here comes correct and creates a brand of modern pop-rock that is just as honest and impressive as anything released by Fiona Apple or others of her ilk. “Someday Soon” is a slightly faster song than “Landfill”, and brings Margaret into the space created by Annie Lennox and Enya, albeit with a more marketable sound. This more radio friendly sound is what links this track to “Landfill”, and ensures that listeners will keep focused in to “Buena Vista Park“. The title track for this EP uses more of the wide-open compositions that presented themselves on “Someday Soon”. “Buena Vista Park” is interesting due to the trend during the track for the instrumentation to rival the vocals in regards to the emotional content in each.

It takes a rare brand of musician to be able to create such a high level of emotional content on a track, but this trend is present throughout all of “Buena Vista Park“. “Solitude” may have a more inorganic sound to the instrumentation on the track, but this does not mean that the compositions on the track are sterile. Actually, the electronic, cold sound of the track feels to me to be a second set of vocals, the negative to the weary positive that Margaret puts forth on this track. “Buena Vista Group” may only be an EP, but individuals will understand quite well where Margaret is coming from by the time that this album spins to an end.

During the entirety of “Buena Vista Group”, Margaret handles eirself quite well. This gives me hope that the successes achieved here could easily be transferred to an album that is twice or thrice the time of “Buena Vista Park“. There is significant variation to the tracks on this EP, while still crafting a common thread of current pop-rock that runs through the songs here. Given the success of “Buena Vista Park“, it would not be a surprise to see Margaret receive rotation on contemporary and pop/rock format radio stations. All that ey needs is a video, and this could easily make it to the Good Life network or VH1 (if VH1 still plays videos, that is). Simply put, Rachel Margaret is an artist whose stock can only go up from here. Pick this EP up.

Top Track: Someday Soon

- Neufutur.com

With a sweetness and maturity frosted over production perfection, female vocalist, Rachel Margaret, releases her 6-gem record, "Buena Vista Park". She combines modern noisy overdriven staticy patches with clean and penetrating grooves and lyrics. Her verses are nearly art-rock ala Bush with the intimate subject matter of Vega. Her choruses are another animal altogether - they reflect deft understanding of hook as every track, including the toxic-landscape above your soul's "Landfill" (you're thinking you're sitting high on a hill, but you're sitting on a landfill), veers into radio-ready land of sugar-tinged harmonies and melodic journeys. "Snowglobe" begins with a vibe and hollow metallic percussive sound that penetrates anew. The metaphorical imagery here is obvious but delightful - life in a snowglobe. .'is this a life or just a 2-bit souvenir?' The guitar arpeggiated work paints a circular quality that adds to the merry-go-round nowhere life it describes nicely. Lighters in the air give us a Sarah M feel in the title track, "Buena Vista Park" with another beautiful lyric and performance. "Fade" starts with a right-panned mono acoustic piano that modulates into a slow-jazz groove. Margaret sings, 'faded hope and promises with wings, well love means different things. .you fade to black again'. We hear influences, surprisingly, from Beck - and the mix is compelling. One of the more commercial tracks is 'Solitude' - the techno sense in the verses moves into a gorgeous chorus that blends Maragret's voice with harmonies that are lush. Overall, the record is a perfect taste of what we hope is a sign of much more to come. Influences can be heard, however the singular voice is clearly emerging in the overall approach to her music. Expect good things from this artist who has made a professionally excellent sampling of a half-dozen treats. - Earbuzz.com

3-minute interview: Rachel Margaret


Michael Aldax, The Examiner
2008-07-31
SAN FRANCISCO -

The singer-songwriter from the Fillmore district has become the surprise favorite of the PopMontreal/Sirius Satellite Radio Fan Choice Awards contest, having had the top two ranked songs out of 800 bands and 6,000 songs.

You've had some strange jobs to support your music career. Can you share some of them? I briefly took a job where I was working for a company that was trying to get people to have their chimneys swept. I also worked as a dog walker [in San Francisco] and taught ESL to postal workers in France.

Has living in the jazz district of San Francisco inspired you? Oh yeah, every time I go to the little corner grocery on Oak and Fillmore, the Key Food Market, I know all the guys, and they're always listening to great stuff. Some of it is jazz and some of it hip-hop. It's a lot of this mish-mash stuff from all over the world. It's cool. And it's kind of what I like to really like in my own music, a mix.

What's it like to see your songs maturing into hits? I worked my butt off over the past years to try to do this. It's really sweet because I've put a lot of effort into it, and it is the reason why I do those crazy little jobs.

If you could see your career go anywhere, where would that be? I had a couple of calls from record labels so I might choose to do that. I'd like to go on an international tour. Once I get the pop thing going, I want to go back to write a score for a film.

--Michael Aldax
Examiner - San Francisco Examiner

Julian Lennon's Pick of the Week for November 16th, 2008.

Rachel Margaret has been influenced by the sounds of Tracey Thorne, Morrissey, and Elisabeth Fraser. Her sound floats within the Indie Pop and Chill Out flavors with passionate vocals, dreamy synths and hyper-hooky guitars.

Her debut EP released in July 2007, "Buena Vista Park", has gained global attention.

She is currently working on her follow-up album "Temporary Sanity". We will be ready to share that with you as soon as Rachel shares it with us. - Below Zero (www.belowzerobeats.com/Julian_Lennon/)