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Sardonic Dame
by Daniel Mangin
Serenade City by Rachelle Garniez & the Fortunate Few; Real Cool Records
Wistful, sardonic, sentimental, and wry, Rachelle Garniez has her mildly melancholic finger on the pulse of romance in turn-of-the-millenium urban America. Until now, the accordion-playing postmodern chanteuse has only shared her tales of love gone sweet and sour with discerning manhattan pub and club goers, but the release of her self-produced CD, Serenade City, may garner Rachelle Garniez the wider audience she deserves.
The songs wear some of their influences - jazzy pop standards, Euro cabaret, Aesop's Fables, the tango - on their sleeves, but without fail the clear-voiced Garniez puts her signature on the material. Backed by a tight band (Rob Thomas on violin and Joe Ruddick on piano, saxophone, and other instruments stand out), she ruminates on her predilections in "Broken Nose" ("I'm just a city kid with a sentimental streak/and a weakness for a ruined reputation"), begs for forgiveness from the planet Mercury in "Retrograde," and expounds on love sublime in "Rain for Days."
Garniez has a knack for sketching a succinct story - in three minutes or so she both paints a picture and tells a tale. Her vocals range from whispery wisps in the "Wind" ("When I look in his eyes/I see the sadness of a restless past/shadows through a smoked-glass window") to emphatically edgy in "Spike Heels" ("She's a hip chick got real thick lips/fake eyelashes and licorice whips/squeaky clean teeth and a freaky mystique/stay one night and you can't walk for a week).
Serenade City was recorded on a shoestring budget, but for the most part this doesn't show. The lack of dollars may have mandated a spare sound, but it wholly suits the lyrics, and the playing of the Fortunate Few band is full and hearty throughout. On the West Coast, it'll be the the fortunate few indeed who latch onto Serenade City - Garniez's label, Real Cool Records, has scant distribution. But the pithy CD is worth the effort to track it down.
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