Handwriting

Description

Before it was a group, Rachel’s was a constellation. A chance meeting on a streetcar between Jason Noble and Christian Frederickson set off a series of long-distance exchanges, homemade cassettes, and scribbled scores, as their lives intertwined between studies at the Peabody Conservatory, getaways to Switzerland, New York struggles, and nights as dishwashers in Louisville. To this geographical madness was added Rachel Grimes, first as an impromptu music teacher, then as a full-fledged pianist and pillar of the project – which would bear her first name. On the fringes of bands like Rodan or The Coctails, the members recruited by instinct: classical musicians, literate punks, or unruly sound-makers. Between rigor and freedom, they recorded what would become Handwriting, an intense, semi-improvised first album, released on Quarterstick Records in 1995. More than a record, Handwriting is the fruit of an artisanal and chaotic process, woven by a handful of nomadic artists united around a common idea: composing music that is free, deep, and unclassifiable. A true "labor of love," dressed in a cover screen-printed by hand by Jeff Mueller (Dexterity Press).