REVIEWS
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RED TREE:
Rachel's new album Red Tree released on The 21st of May 2008. Please click here to read the official Press Release

Red Tree is released on Hushland
www.hushland.com

Brilliant Blue is released on Pipe Records
www.piperecords.co.uk

Brilliant Blue Show:>>

Brilliant Blue Art:>>
Rachel’s live performances often combine music and visual art inspired by the songs, courtesy of artist and husband, Bill Taylor-Beales. These visuals include a full exhibition of digital prints to accompany each song from her album, as well as a series of projected video images creating a dynamic wall of evolving scenes for live shows.

Rachel Bio
At the crossroads of folk, jazz, roots and blues stands Rachel Taylor-Beales, guitar slung around back, banjo to one side, soprano sax case at her feet, fingers tapping out melodies on an imagined upright piano. Rachel maps out these music traditions on a mesmerizing journey through the dust and the gold of human condition. Her song-line narratives are a blend of quirky melody and sublime harmony driven with a crystalline voice. These songs are long-term travelling companions who settle themselves deep into the passenger seat and will keep you engaged for endless miles producing as many tears as they do smiles.

Before she hit 12, Rachel had lived in 13 different houses and had relocated five times between Australia and the UK. As one of many artists in her family, there was always a spare guitar to hand, so Rachel started writing songs from an early age. By her late teens she had begun performing on the Nottingham folk scene and it was here that she met Bill (a visual artist) and after a while of gigging and painting together, decided that the time was right to marry him and relocate again back to Australia. So they did, travelling along the southern eastern coast for the next 4 years on everything from push bikes to station wagons held together with string. After playing and painting in all kinds of places they formed an arts company, composing and performing their way through theatres, schools, prisons, pubs, clubs, festivals and performing in extensive tours of Australia, the UK and America. Now based in Cardiff, Rachel is an established solo artist. Her debut album ‘Brilliant Blue’ was met with great reviews. In May 2008, Brilliant Blue was followed up by Red Tree.

Rachel’s new album “Dust and Gold” weaves its way through the dry landscapes of outback and suburban Australia into enchanted Welsh folklore and beyond, much like her own life journey. Produced by guitar virtuoso Dylan Fowler, the album has been predominantly recorded in ‘live takes’ in order to capture the authentic vibe and quality of Rachel’s performances. With Dylan and Rachel both eager to find a ‘muse in the moment’, many of the added layers were also born out of live improvisation while recording. As with her previous albums, the songs often take folk as a starting point, but Rachel continues to coax the genre into new directions, adding hypnotic vocals, subtle strings and bluegrass tones. With a voice keening between soulful, wispy and delicate and with gritty storytelling doused in humour and wry sweetness, “Dust and Gold” resounds as a startlingly affecting work.

Rachel performs both solo and with an ever-changing lineup of her very talented 'collective' of musicians. Always ambitious, live performances often combine her music with visual art inspired by the songs, courtesy of artist and husband, Bill Taylor-Beales. She has shared a stage with the likes of Martyn Joseph, Jackie Leven, Steve Knightly, Gretchen Peters, Kirsty McGee, Mary Gauthier and many others.

In support of the new album Rachel will be touring the UK in May/June and the album launch gig is below:-
29th May CARDIFF, The Gate Arts Centre, Keppoch St. Roath on stage 8pm £8 or £6.50 concession.

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Visit Rachel's Electronic Press Kit