Rainer Maria defies comparison. From their very first performances at D.I.Y. basement and living rooms shows across the U.S. almost 10 years ago to the release of their latest, instantly inspiring album Catastrophe Keeps Us Together, this inseparable trio has always set their sights on uncharted musical territories, rather than mainstream musical trends.
During the past three years, the band has focused almost exclusively on writing, recording and mixing Catastrophe Keeps Us Together. After extensive touring in the U.S., Japan, Canada, and Europe for the better part of 2003 and 2004, they returned to the studio. Drummer William Kuehn explains: “We came home from touring without a set label situation. It would have been easy to go back to doing things the way we had for so long. Instead we wrote the most personal songs we could, without timelines or deadlines, answering to no one but ourselves."
Catastrophe Keeps Us Together is a startling leap forward for even the most restless band. And it is appropriately unique as the first release of the nascent Grunion Records label. The themes of love lost always present in Caithlin De Marrais' lyrics appear now as a world collapsing all around our ears. Is it the end of the world, or a new one beginning--where all you need in a catastrophe is the one you love to make it through? Her voice is as delicate as it is resolute. And singing along underneath her, not with his voice but broad guitar work, Kyle Fischer delivers his most beautiful and spine-tingling performance to date. These gorgeous sounds are answered and propelled by the mercurial drumming of Kuehn. This band lives and dies by the rhythm and melody of Kuehn's drums, and it's no wonder that over the years, the line-up has remained the same . . . there's something magnificent in the way these three bond together musically.
Throughout the new album, these tightly structured songs hit many atmospheric highs. Equal parts restraint, taste and power, Catastrophe Keeps Us Together shows Rainer Maria challenging them on every single track. Songs like "Life of Leisure," "Burn" and "Already Lost" sonically burst off the walls and ceilings. And songs like "Terrified," "Cities Above" and the dreamlike cover of "I'll Keep It with Mine" from Nico's Chelsea Girls, written by Bob Dylan, engage the listener at such an intimate level, it's as if the band has lost all sense of boundary between the outside world and their own heads.
Beautifully direct and aurally complex throughout, this is easily the most stunning and original work to date by a stunningly original band.
"Life of Leisure" is the AMP3 SELECT track.
