{"id":2901,"date":"2021-07-06T12:35:12","date_gmt":"2021-07-06T17:35:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/?p=2901"},"modified":"2021-07-06T12:35:17","modified_gmt":"2021-07-06T17:35:17","slug":"lrain-fatigue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/lrain-fatigue\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: L&#8217;Rain&#8217;s &#8216;Fatigue&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Multi-instrumentalist Taja Cheek, who records under the moniker L&#8217;Rain, creates a unique experience in <em>Fatigue<\/em>. The album is kaleidoscopic and unpredictable. Cheek envelopes the listener in her world with a combination of impressive musicianship, production, and field recordings. The album is full of beautiful moments, an early one being how Cheek embellishes a live gospel recording in the second half of &#8220;Find It.&#8221; &#8220;Suck Teeth&#8221;, a smooth number that is as close to straight-ahead as <em>Fatigue <\/em>gets, has Cheek in a mesmerizing back and forth with ethereal vocals.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"435\" style=\"position: relative; display: block; width: 560px; height: 435px;\" src=\"\/\/bandcamp.com\/VideoEmbed?track=3065571290&#038;size=venti&#038;bgcol=ffffff&#038;linkcol=0687f5\" allowtransparency=\"true\" frameborder=\"0\" mozallowfullscreen='1' webkitallowfullscreen='1' allowfullscreen='1'><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Suck Teeth&#8221; is named after a reaction of annoyance heard throughout the African diaspora. The song is between two other brief signifiers of life and culture, \u201cBlack Clap&#8221; and \u201cLove Her.\u201d The former contains the sounds of handclap games common amongst Black children, and the latter is a spontaneous recording of Cheek\u2019s friend jokingly making up a song. Right before &#8220;Black Clap,&#8221; &#8220;Blame Me&#8221; has Cheek at her most devastating. The name L&#8217;Rain is in honor of her late mother, Lorraine. With this in mind, it is hard not to be moved by the lyrics of &#8220;Blame Me&#8221; as she sings over melancholy guitars, strings, and keys:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;<em>I was born naked into this world \/ You never let me see you cry \/ Gave you nothing inside of my time \/ Maybe that\u2019s what ends your life \/ Fought my demons until you were old \/ Maybe \u2018cause you love me.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"435\" style=\"position: relative; display: block; width: 560px; height: 435px;\" src=\"\/\/bandcamp.com\/VideoEmbed?track=3258795980&#038;size=venti&#038;bgcol=ffffff&#038;linkcol=0687f5\" allowtransparency=\"true\" frameborder=\"0\" mozallowfullscreen='1' webkitallowfullscreen='1' allowfullscreen='1'><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Fatigue<\/em> is spacious at times but never static. \u201cFind It\u201d floats through a hypnotic wordless mantra before its compelling gospel conclusion. Cheek\u2019s majestic singing in the vast \u201cTake Two\u201d is otherworldly. Vocal effects obscure words over a pulsing beat in \u201cKill Self\u201d, a song that shows a very different side of her artistry. Equally oblique and confrontational, \u201cKill Self\u201d evokes the feeling of being lost in dizzying thoughts. \u201cTwo Face\u201d is a dazzling number about the end of a friendship. True to its title, the first portion of \u201cTwo Face\u201d shifts between two distinct instrumental passages. The first features haunting singing over a shimmering piano, but the second is much brighter. It begins to feel as if the sun has started to peek through the clouds. \u201cTwo Face\u201d fascinates in how it plays with mood &#8211; the saddest lyrics are in the more positive atmosphere of the second passage:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cI can\u2019t build no new nothing no new life no new nothing for me \/ I\u2019ve gotten all of my bricks aligned but mortar\u2019s escaping me.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"435\" style=\"position: relative; display: block; width: 560px; height: 435px;\" src=\"\/\/bandcamp.com\/VideoEmbed?track=1691796753&#038;size=venti&#038;bgcol=ffffff&#038;linkcol=0687f5\" allowtransparency=\"true\" frameborder=\"0\" mozallowfullscreen='1' webkitallowfullscreen='1' allowfullscreen='1'><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Fatigue <\/em>is sequenced extremely well and best heard from start to finish. Each track has an immersive psychedelic atmosphere. The eclectic nature of the album renders genre categories useless. Cheek&#8217;s debut showed that she is an adventurous artist, and <em>Fatigue<\/em> is an excellent album that takes her intangible dream of a style to the next level.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/lrain.bandcamp.com\/album\/fatigue\"><em>Fatigue is now available on Bandcamp<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Personnel: Taja Cheek (vocals), Jon Bap (background vocals (4)), Quinton Brock (vocals (1, 10)), E.T. Cali (voice (1)), Ben Chapoteau-Katz (synthesizer (2, 8, 10), saxophone (2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14), vocals (10), percussion (2, 6), airhorn (1)), Tiger Darrow (cello (2)), Buz Donald (drums and percussion (2, 6)), Alex Goldberg (drums and percussion (1, 10, 12)), Travis Haynes (organ and vocals (2)), Devin Hobdy (background vocals (10)), Andrew Lappin (guitar (6, 12), programming (2, 8)), Alita Moses (background vocals (2, 12)), Taj Sapp (background vocals (2, 12)), Jake Sherman (organ and clavinet (2, 6)), Mike Stephenson (background vocals (2, 12)), Abby Swidler (viola (2)), Zosha Warpeha (violin (2)), Anna Wise (background vocals (4)). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tracklist: 1. Fly, Die; 2. Find It; 3. Round Sun; 4. Blame Me; 5. Black Clap; 6. Suck Teeth; 7. Love Her; 8. Kill Self; 9. Not Now; 10. Two Face; 11. Walk Through; 12. I V; 13. Need Be; 14. Take Two.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Multi-instrumentalist Taja Cheek, who records under the moniker L&#8217;Rain, creates a unique experience in Fatigue. The album is kaleidoscopic and unpredictable. Cheek envelopes the listener in her world with a combination of impressive musicianship, production, and field recordings. The album is full of beautiful moments, an early one being how Cheek embellishes a live gospel [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2904,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"iawp_total_views":18,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/0025161566_10-1.jpg?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peRkRR-KN","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1621,"url":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/christian-scott-atunde-adjuah-axiom\/","url_meta":{"origin":2901,"position":0},"title":"Review: Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah&#8217;s &#8216;Axiom&#8217;","author":"Rob Shepherd","date":"August 27, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"In the field of philosophical logic, an axiom serves as a starting point from which other statements are derived. 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Rounding out the ensemble are pianist Carmen Staaf, drummer Jimmy MacBride,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Album Reviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Album Reviews","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/category\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/img_1824.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/img_1824.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/img_1824.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/img_1824.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/img_1824.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":855,"url":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/review-okkyung-lees-yeo-neun\/","url_meta":{"origin":2901,"position":3},"title":"Review: Okkyung Lee&#8217;s &#8216;Yeo-Neun&#8217;","author":"Brian Kiwanuka","date":"May 30, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Cellist Okkyung Lee is best known for her visceral attack and extended techniques, which can be heard on past albums such as Ghil (Ideologic Organ, 2013). 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