Systems / Layers
Biography
Rachel's was an American band formed in Louisville, Kentucky in 1991 by ex-Rodan guitarist Jason Noble. While Rachel's began as primarily a solo project for Noble, he quickly began collaborating with now core members violist Christian Frederickson, and pianist Rachel Grimes. The group's work was strongly influenced by classical music, particularly inspired by the minimalist music of the late 20th century, and its composition reflects this. While the trio formed the core part of the band, the gro...
Rachel's was an American band formed in Louisville, Kentucky in 1991 by ex-Rodan guitarist Jason Noble. While Rachel's began as primarily a solo project for Noble, he quickly began collaborating with now core members violist Christian Frederickson, and pianist Rachel Grimes. The group's work was strongly influenced by classical music, particularly inspired by the minimalist music of the late 20th century, and its composition reflects this. While the trio formed 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 was the music of the English composer Michael Nyman, whose music the group's work resembles in both instrumentation and compositional style.
They named the group Rachel's after Noble's Toyota Corolla, which had nothing to do with third new member, pianist Rachel Grimes. They debuted in 1995 with Handwriting, an album which mixed both dark classical sounds with film influenced experimental music. Rachel's released four albums after that, with 2003 Systems/Layers being the most recent one. In 2005 they released an EP consisting of a single track, titled Technology is Killing Music.
The band is currently on hiatus and does not tour or record new albums. However, they have provided the score for a film by longtime collaborator Greg King, "ROTATING MIRROR", a 50 minute document of life in NYC, Louisville, and in between.
Rachel's song "Water from the Same Source" was featured in the movie Hancock, although it did not appear on the official soundtrack. Also it was used in the Italian film La grande bellezza (The Great Beauty). Furthermore, "Water from the Same Source" was 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. "Lloyd's Register" from the album "The Sea and the Bells" made it to the French movie Une liaison pornographique. Their song "An Evening Of Long Goodbyes" provided the inspiration for the title of Paul Murray's novel of that name.
A profile of the band is included in the book Second-Hand Stories: 15 Portraits of Louisville by Michael L. Jones.
On August 4, 2012 band member Jason Noble died of cancer.
On March 27, 2017 band member Edward Grimes died.
Discography
* Handwriting (1995, Quarterstick Records)
* Music for Egon Schiele (1996, Quarterstick)
* The Sea and the Bells (1996, Quarterstick)
* Selenography (1999, Quarterstick)
* Full On Night Split Disc with Matmos (2000, Quarterstick)
* Systems/Layers (2003, Quarterstick)
* Technology is Killing Music EP (2005, Three Lobed Recordings)
Band members
Christian Frederickson – viola
Edward Grimes – percussion (deceased)
Rachel Grimes – piano, organ
Greg King – keyboards
Eve Miller – cello
Jason Noble – guitar, bass (deceased)
www.rachelsband.com Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.