Rebecca Gates - Ruby Series
(Badman)
There's a big difference between living in Chicago and living
in Portland, Oregon. It's no wonder that after Rebecca Gates
moved to the Second City, her whole sound and style changed as
well. Her first two albums as head of The Spinanes were
pure indie rock, bare arrangements using only drums, a guitar,
and Gates' voice, casting Gates as some sort of earthen Moon
goddess. After her drummer left to join the Martsch express, Gates ended up in Chicago, surrounded by musicians like Sam
Prekop and John McEntire.
With such company, it's no wonder the earthen Moon goddess
was nowhere to be found. The Spinanes' third album, Arches &
Aisles, was pure Chicago-style post-soul, with McEntire-aided sleek arrangements. This new, more urban, more chic sound was
a much better fit for Gates mellow, come-hither voice, the
tone of the electro-cool instruments a much closer fit to her
voice than the guitar and drums. Now that the Spinanes name
has been retired, Gates is continuing the sound of Arches &
Aisles as a solo project, continuing to enlist the assistance
of McEntire as producer and percussionist.
Gates' first solo album is Ruby Series, and it has the same
sort of soulful, soft urban sound that made that last Spinanes album such an easy listen. The arrangements, however, are quite a
bit sparser than that of Arches & Aisles, more similar in that
respect to her Portland-era sound. The sounds of smoothed out synthesizers, electronic fluctuations, and percolating percussion
back Gates, like in Arches & Aisles, but it is done in a more restrained way.
Album opener "The Seldom Scene" puts all emphasis on Gates'
voice, like some piano bar jazz singer. A gentle beat and
accompanying quiet guitar follow a slow but steady pattern while Gates' voice relays her emotion like a bolt to a lightning rod.
Piano provides a few bursts of melody to accent the vocals, but
its presence seems more like an afterthought as the vocals stay
in centerstage for almost the entire song. The next song,
"Lure and Cast," is a bit denser musically, combining xylophone
with pulsating electronics, making it a bit livelier than the
previous track. The music, however, always slows down when
leading into Gates' vocals, never attempting to overpower her
while she's singing. "In a Star Orbit" is similar, featuring
instrumental sections where the music ranges from very lively
to very mellow, smoothing out when it enters the vocal section,
focusing on a simple, relaxing melody.
The album ends on an interesting note, the slightly different
track "I Received a Levitation." The song uses almost entirely
guitar and voice, but the guitar uses a very interesting sound,
quite like a music box. Like a music box, it follows a very
simple repetitive progression, giving the song a very meditative
feel.
At only 31 minutes long, Ruby Series leaves Gates' fans longing
for more after the several year wait off of Arches & Aisles.
That longing, though, is testament to the quality of these songs.
They are bare and laid-back but very soft and soothing.
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