Artist Spotlight | RachaelPlaysGuitar
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT | RachaelPlaysGuitar | “Tides”
Tides, the latest album from Rachael Plays Guitar, feels like it was torn directly from the pages of a diary. It tells of grief, loss, growth, and ultimately centers on self reflection. Musically, this album is full of genre blending. Electric guitar riffs build from quiet acoustic contemplation in the track Purple or Pink, immediately followed by the R&B sound of Cool Kids. Silly Thoughts is a whimsical pop track that dissolves into the jazzy Bossa Nova rhythm of Feathers. Each song feels unique while the album as a whole remains impressively cohesive.
Rachael Beck, musically known as Rachael Plays Guitar, is a Phoenix-based singer/songwriter. Tides is her third album release in the last six years with several single releases in between albums. The artist had a challenging year prefacing the Tides album with the passing of her mother and a major surgery of her own. In the fall of 2024, she began working on a few lyrics to express what she was going through. This eventually (with collaboration from her producer Jesse Morrison “Killa Maus”) turned into the seventeen track album that is Tides.
From the beginning of this album, I loved the way that it felt unpolished. Rachael’s voice is soulful and vulnerable, an excellent compliment to her refreshingly honest lyrical storytelling. I was impressed by the versatility of her voice as it effortlessly flowed from one genre into the next. The mix of the songs is balanced, the instrumentation is wonderful, and yet the album sounds like it came fresh from the recording studio to my ears. In fact, it feels like I’m there in the room with Rachael and the other musicians as they’re recording jam sessions. Recorded sounds of traffic, nature, and occasionally other voices (such as the voicemail at the end of Wasted) transports listeners to important settings in the unfolding stories. It is a delightfully intimate invitation into the album and one I was glad to accept.