Rachael Yamagata plays both sides of the heart in Chicago return

October 1, 2008, at the Lakeshore Theater

By Selena Fragassi
Published: October 4th, 2008 | 12:35pm

It’s fitting that Rachael Yamagata’s sold-out homecoming show was held on the main stage of Chicago comedy club the Lakeshore Theater, since the night’s set list included improvisational interludes that targeted everything from the grievances of angry baristas to the pitfalls of skinny jeans.

“The chorus goes higher on that song, but I have the wrong jeans on,” she said to the crowd, disguised under a billowing black peasant top and trademark heavy bangs. “So, next time I come back, I’ll either lose weight or wear different pants.”

Four years after the curtain rose on her solo debut, Yamagata has already worked to shed a few layers in her act, as she’s straightened up from the growing pains of her 20s on 2004’s Happenstance (RCA) into the defined posture of a 30-something stronghold on this year’s Elephants … Teeth Sinking Into Heart (Warner Bros.), a double disc dropping October 7. While much of her material picks up where Happenstance’s story left off, it’s Yamagata’s personal narration that has further developed her character arc.

“This record is a lot less ‘poor me’ and a lot more ‘fuck you,’” she told the crowd before she turned up the amplifiers and stomped into two of the heavier new tracks, “Sidedish Friend” and “Accident,” featuring choruses that poured her vocal salt into the shredded wounds of guitarist Jason Kanakis.

It’s this double dose that is so perfectly explored on her latest terrain — both discs take equal stabs at her broken heart, but on different sides of the crack. Elephants features the sweet side that has sugared her lasting commercial success while Teeth profiles the newfound devil on her shoulder.

It’s a unique play of opposites that carried into her live show as she moved from guitar to piano and back, at moments toying with a British accent, and others, a dead-on Valley Girl impersonation. “I swear you guys I’m not on drugs, I’m just hungry,” she said as bandmate and opener Kevin Devine appeared from backstage with brownie bites and a bacon-flavored chocolate bar.

Hungry too were the audience members as they put in orders for old, home-cooked favorites, which she served heartily on “Be Be Your Love,” “Letter Read,” and the everlasting “Worn Me Down.”

But what really left the crowd with cravings for more were the tastes from her new album, among them, the nine-minute epic “Sunday Afternoon,” which showcased the best of Yamagata’s range, from soft whispers to raspy bellyaches that growled with symphonious string arrangements and cried with Kanakis’ wailing guitar.

By far, the most memorable performance of the night came with the most stripped-down song — an a cappella version of “Elephants,” which highlighted the best of her lyrical prowess while preying on her ultimate vulnerability.

It was a moment when you could be thankful for a seated show as it provided a landing pad to catch your fall from the heavy push of the song as Yamagata, standing paralyzed in the spotlight, so softly tiptoed into the microphone as if it was her first recital. The thrust stage made her at once feel right in your lap, and, at best, added an air of Shakespearian irony to the night of that started out comedic and ended so tragically beautiful.

The night may have been a schizophrenic roulette wheel, (“I’m a woman, I’m Asian, maybe a lesbian? I can be whatever you need … I’m a whore. What the fuck?”) but Yamagata’s multiple personalities were all ones you could fall in love with.