When singer/songwriter Rachael Yamagata was growing up, she went to all-girls school that she says warped her into the relationship-obsessed woman she’s become, at least in the lyrics of her songs. She began singing with a funk-crazed dance band called Bumpus while she was in college studying theater. While touring and recording with Bumpus, she was also writing confessional, deeply emotional songs that didn’t fit the band’s format. Happenstance, her first solo album, was a folk/pop charmer. Her tunes have appeared on The O.C., The L Word, Grey’s Anatomy and Alias, and Ray LaMontagne, Ryan Adams and Conor Oberst all expressed admiration for her vocal style. Having just issued Chesapeake (Frankenfish), Yamagata will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Q&A with her.
Yamagata: I met Jungman at least, hmm, maybe six years ago for the first time. He is an amazing photographer and artist. Look him up if you don’t know him. He is Korean in heritage and all heart and soul in spirit. He was moved by my music and related to a sorrow he can detect beyond most and in the most disarming way. He came to a show and introduced himself and brought me beautiful pieces of his work. It was after my trip to Seoul this year that we met again and really got to spend time together. One of the greatest advantages I have in my work is getting to travel and meet soulmates across the world that come into your life because something synchronistically aligned just right. He is most definitely one of them. I was lucky enough to have him take endless pictures of me and the band, as well as meet and be shot by those studying under him. There is a waiting list to do so, and the whole experience for us was a great honor. More than that, he sees the underlying layers of all around him and that includes my inner self, so it was surreal getting to know him. I felt an immediate kinship when entering his studio and if he ever comes out by me, he’ll know why as soon as he steps into mine. He is a generous and perhaps conflicted soul who breathes through his art. I feel less alone when I think of him as well accepting life’s bouts of loneliness and seeing the beauty in it all.
Video after the jump.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVOVs_kbmoU
