Night & Day: Rachael Yamagata

RACHAEL YAMAGATA DIDN'T want to make a double album. She didn't want to make a particularly long album either.

In the end, she kind of did both.

Yamagata's sophomore effort, "Elephants ... Teeth Sinking Into Heart" (Warner Bros.), out Oct. 7, is an album divided into two distinct halves — not a double album (though it's on two CDs), just a record in two parts, separate yet linked.

And it took her a while to get there.

"I probably did 50 sequences of this record," Yamagata said. "At the end of the day, I found this sequence for "Elephants" [which makes up the album's first nine songs] to be more of like a film score. It's really one of those things where you may listen to it once a year when you're by yourself and in a certain mood, and that's how I envisioned it. I wrote [most of] it in the woods at 4 a.m. It's definitely a mood piece; you can't listen to it at a party. It's definitely magical in that way."

On the other side, "Teeth Sinking into Heart" is Yamagata's more rocking side. If the first half is her trapped in a depressed rut, the second is her breaking free and starting to stand on her own.

"The five songs on ["Teeth"] is playing on the same themes, but that's really like driving music, blasting songs with your windows down," she said. "I like that idea. I usually don't like double-discs — I don't like long albums — so, it did kind of go against my principles."

It also goes against conventional wisdom for a singer/songwriter to put out an album with two songs longer than eight minutes. It's a hard record to take in at first, with producer Mike Moogis' (Bright Eyes, Rilo Kiley) sparse arrangements and Yamagata's subtle, sultry vocals and piano taking time to fully digest.

And frankly, it's a depressing listen.

"It's about emotions, I guess," Yamagata said. "I love relating finding what connects the dots between all of us and a lot of the ways to relating that way is on a love level. I feel like everyone can be in love with anyone else. You're most true to yourself in a love relationship. I think that's why I focus on love because it resonates on every level. It's all about love.

"I like looking at all those symptoms of the same way," she continued. "It's definitely colored by several relationships. I had someone close to me die, but it was still a love relationship, definitely. I think a lot of things made it dark: I went through a bunch of business changes, and that lifestyle throws you amazing new challenges."

RCA released Yamagata from her recording contract and she also changed managers after she released "Happenstance" in 2004. "Elephants" is her first release for Warner Bros. — not exactly the kind of record you'd want to present to new label executives, right?

"Actually I was pleasantly surprised at the people on the business side — they loved it," Yamagata said. "That's one of their favorite tracks over there, a song like [the nine-minute epic] 'Sunday Afternoon.' I didn't plan it to be long, but I love how it journeys through these sections and the production serves it and it becomes this epic song to perform live. ... I would have not liked having to shorten it, I certainly wasn't thinking, 'Danger.' I only realized that when we were putting the album together. I wasn't concerned with trying to make a succinct pop song."

No, Yamagata seemed more concerned with the art of the album here, and it shows.

"Elephants"-closer "Horizons" ends with a very Ryan Adams and The Cardinals-esque psych-country coda (Yamagata appeared on the band's 2005 album "Cold Roses") before fading into a minute of silence. Then, fast-paced acoustic guitar and a full band replace the brooding sound of "Elephants" as "Sidedish Friend" and "Teeth Sinking into Heart" begins.

"It was definitely like one leads into the other," she said. "By the end of it, "Horizon," is like I've just lost my entire balance. This thing has completely floored me. I don't really know if I'm cynical in this state of, 'What just happened.' [The transition is] almost like you've had a minute to digest what happens, now, you're reclaiming your backbone and you're a bit pissed off. It's not cynical, it's sassy. I certainly love 'Don't' as an ending to this side. It's almost tongue and cheek — you're not naive anymore. It's sassy, it's still lighthearted, it kind of relieves you of the angry side."

Yamagata said she also framed the record's songs in terms of the live show.

"I'm always thinking of the live show and what will make an interesting live show and give you a range of experiences," she said.

On Sept. 23 she's bringing "Elephants ... Teeth Sinking into Heart" to the live stage for a homecoming at the Birchmere — Yamagata was born in Alexandria and raised in Bethesda, Germantown and Potomac.

"I always have fun at the Birchmere," she said. "That room is a little strange because of the tables and whatnot, but the sound is actually really great. ... It's almost like there's more stripped-down shows there, better for acoustics. I had a really great show there when I was there last time and everyone's really nice and they have that beautiful piano, so I'm definitely excited to play that room again."

» Birchmere, 3701 Mt. Vernon Ave., Alexandria.; with Kevin Devine, Tue., Sept. 23, 7:30 p.m., $20; 800-551-7328.

Written by Express contributor Rudi Greenberg

Photos by Hilary Walsh