Rachel Mintz - Shed A Tear
RACHEL MINTZ RELEASES GORGEOUS ‘SHED A TEAR’
Based in Los Angeles, singer-songwriter Rachel Mintz released an exquisite EP, Shed A Tear, in the middle of November 2019.
Rachel Mintz
While growing up in Miami, Florida, Mintz grew up in a musical family. Her brother and father were musicians. She started writing songs when she was 8-years-old. “I would record full vocal compositions on my handheld tape recorder.”
Later, she sang in a professional children’s choir. According to the choir director, Timothy Sharp, “Rachel has one of the most unique voices I’ve ever heard.”
In 2004, she moved across the country, landing in L.A., where she pursued her passion for making music, playing with two bands, Pigs and Baxter House. Subsequent to a protracted lull, she decided to go solo. Hooking up with Grammy winner Ian Cross, the two collaborated on laying down tracks for Shed A Tear.
Glowing vocal harmonies infuse the tune with radiant dimension, as well as tantalizing halcyon suffusions.
Wonderfully wrought, the EP includes the talents of Shane Smith, Blake Harden, and mastering wizard Howie Weinberg, along with the musical gifts of David Kalish (guitars), Tim Sonnefeld (mixing engineer, drums), Charlie Paxson (drums), Blake Harden (mixing engineer), and Valerie Vuolo (violin).
Encompassing six-tracks, Shed A Tear starts off with “Here Alone,” opening on emerging synths topped by Mintz’s delicate longing tones. Riding a muscular rhythmic pulse, the tune floats on creamy glistening textures, followed by a lustrous gossamer breakdown flowing into rippling colors crowned by MIntz’s lusciously moody voice.
Entry points include “The Fraud,” with its nuanced new wave surface hues traveling on a softly driving rhythm. Glowing vocal harmonies infuse the tune with radiant dimension, as well as tantalizing halcyon suffusions.
“Kick Me (In The Head)” fuses elements of jazz-lite with drifting cashmere filaments of dream-pop. A crisp delicious side-stick snare gives the rhythm a tight tension, as Mintz’s contemplative melancholic voice imbues the lyrics with pale urgency. Simultaneously haunting and elusively ghostly, this track exudes curiously infectious fields of suppressed energy.
Shed A Tear, superbly innovative, blends graceful colors with lush sonic flavors, resulting in a beatific conjunction of harmonics.
