Rachel's

All Music Guide:

Although the avant chamber trio Rachel's did not fully emerge until after the breakup of the seminal Louisville indie group Rodan, the trio's origins dated back to 1989, when guitarist and bassist Jason Noble first met violinist and Juilliard alumnus Christian Frederickson on a Baltimore trolley. After the duo composed a 1991 Christmas tape dubbed "Rachel's Halo," they parted ways while Noble tenured in Rodan; upon reuniting in 1994, they formed Rachel's, named after Noble's Toyota Corolla and not after the group's third member, pianist Rachel Grimes. In 1995, the group debuted with Handwriting, a dark fusion of classical and experimental sounds influenced by film music; a year later, Rachel's returned with two separate releases, Music for Egon Schiele (composed by Grimes for a theatrical dance production based on the life of the famed Austrian painter) and The Sea and the Bells (which featured an orchestra employing over a dozen musicians). Selenography followed in 1999, and in the spring of 2000 the group resurfaced with Full on Night, a collaboration with Matmos. Three years later, they hooked up with the New York theater collective SITI Company for the Systems/Layers release. In 2002 percussionist Edward Grimes began to perform with his own group, Seulah, a band with a darker, noir-influenced sound. Christian Frederickson also branched out, composing 2010's "The Painted Bird," an interdisciplinary piece created in collaboration with director Pavel Zustiak. In 2012, founding member Jason Noble passed away after a three-year battle with synovial sarcoma, a rare form of cancer.

Wikipedia:

Rachel's is an American chamber music group that formed in Louisville, Kentucky in 1991. Former Rodan guitarist Jason Noble played music individually and referred to himself as Rachel's but then began collaborating with now core members, violist Christian Frederickson, and pianist Rachel Grimes. The group's work is strongly influenced by classical music, particularly inspired by the minimalist music of the late 20th century, and its composition reflects this. While the trio forms the core part of the band, the group's recordings and performances feature a varying ensemble of musicians, who play a range of string instruments (including viola and cello) in combination with piano, guitars, electric bass guitar, and a drum set that includes a large orchestral bass drum. A key influence on the music of Rachel's is the music of the English composer Michael Nyman, whose music the group's work resembles in both instrumentation and compositional style.

A profile of the band is included in the book Second-Hand Stories: 15 Portraits of Louisville by Michael L. Jones.

On August 4th, 2012 band member Jason Noble died of cancer.

Contemporary usage [edit]

Rachel's song "Water from the Same Source" was featured in the movie Hancock, although it did not appear on the official soundtrack. "Water from the Same Source" was also featured in Kirby Ferguson's 4th installment of his "Everything is a Remix" series. Their song "Even/odd" was used in Reha Erdem's film Kosmos. "Loyd's Register" from the album "The Sea and the Bells" made it to the french movie Une liaison pornographique.