Thursday, July 06, 2006

The signs of the deviations -



Is Rachael Cantu the American equivalent of Beth Orton? Maybe (perhaps with less club influence and more rock bleeding through). Whatever your opinion, her EP (a mini album really) Run All Night serves as a great introduction to this bi-coastal singer/songwriter based out of both LA and Boston.

Although the songs are primarily of the songstress-with-acoustic-guitar variety, Rachael is not afraid to flesh out the arrangements. She does so on "Saturday," which is as infectious as any song Kelly Clarkson or Liz Phair has released in recent years, and it will most certainly be part of my soundtrack to this summer. In fact, Rachael has opened for the likes of Ben Lee and Tegan & Sara on recent tours, and Tegan even contributed some vocals to the EP. With songs ranging from dark and introspective to sunny and cheerful, Rachael proves that she can do it all.

Run All Night is out now on the always great Q Division Records.

MP3 | Rachael Cantu - Hear My Laughter Run All Night
MP3 | Rachael Cantu - Saturday Run All Night