Rachel Faith Sounds Like The Future

One of the most admirable aspects of keeping up with Rachel Faith’s music over the last couple of years has been hearing the evolution and maturity of her sound. Her catalogue - which includes her 2018 EP Codependency, her 2019 single “Phantom” and a new single “Velvet Love” - has the ability to draw a certain degree of curiosity out of listeners, leading them to playback her songs multiple times in an attempt to uncover the various layers of complex sounds each track has to offer. We caught up with our dear friend Rachel to discuss the ins and outs of how she’s constructed and fostered her approach to her music, all things “Velvet Love” (which also happens to be paired with a flip phone film), and what she's looking forward to in the year ahead.

Well hello there stranger, we’ve missed you. How are things?

Hello my friends, I’ve missed you too. Things are weird and tough, but we are keeping it pushing as much as possible.

Congratulations on the release of “Velvet Love” - the song is spectacular, how does it feel to have a new song out in the world?

Thank you so much! It feels great and strange to have a new song out. It’s been a while since the last release, so it’s nice to have movement on that front. There’s also some bittersweetness and nerves - something close to you leaves the nest and leaves your control.

As much as we’re liking the track, the video is what we need to discuss… A FLIP PHONE FILM?!

Yes! I shot the whole video on a flip phone and it was a reunion of old friends. The flip phone camera quality is just the right amount of shitty and I love how obsolete it is. I feel obsolete most of the time too, so we get along swimmingly. We did not, however, get along when I was trying to get the footage off of the flip phone and on to my computer. That may have taken longer than filming the video.

You worked with the wonderful Elias Abid on this record. What can you tell us about what he brought to the process?

Yes I did and yes he is wonderful! He’s so committed to doing justice to what a song needs to be. Our tracks are generally really difficult and monstrous to work on, but he is so talented and has such an understanding of how to help elevate music that it doesn’t ever deter him from being willing to put in the work with me. On top of being a production god, he is a patient and kind person and he puts up with me like a champ. I’m so lucky to work with him.

“Velvet Love” is unlike anything we’ve heard in recent memory - can you talk to us a bit about how this song (& sound) came together?

Totally! I have always been partial to big sounds, big textures, dramatics, theatrics, all of that. So when I presented the demo version of this song to Elias, I was like, “I think this needs to be big and tacky.” From there we sort of tried everything. We tried variations of it more stripped back, we tried different structures, we tried a million things and all of them sort of collapsed in on themselves except for this version. That’s usually how it goes with the tracks we do - they’re so precarious in so many ways that if it works, it really works, but if it doesn’t, it is crumbling.

Despite only being a handful of songs, your catalogue to date makes quite an impression - your 2019 single “Phantom” is fantastic & your EP Codependency made our 2018 Chicago Albums of the Year List. We know that some artists hate listening to their old work, but how have these songs held up for you?

“Phantom” I love a lot and there may or may not be even one more version of that track coming out at some point… and Codependency I have a soft spot for. I think it uses space in a really cool way, I think it feels remarkably holistic for being only three songs, and I think it was what it needed to be. It was also the project that introduced me to Elias and that is a gift.

Producer Pnkblnkt recently shared a remix of “Phantom” - what’s your favorite part of their reinterpretation of the record?

I think that drum breakdown is pretty gnarly and I love the ending too. The whole thing is really cool and it was so exciting to have a song reinterpreted.

Looking ahead, how would you describe the evolution of your sound in the music you’re working on now compared to what listeners heard from you so far?

I think the music I’m working on now feels more complex and more refined. I’ve also been working with some people I really admire and they’ve been able to add their mastery and flavor to it too.

We enjoyed your cover of Jamie Woon’s “Middle” you shared a few months back on IG. Any other covers in your arsenal?

Thank you so much, yeah that was such a fun one. Maybe one of these days I’ll put the whole thing on SoundCloud or something. I have a cover of “Something In The Night” by Bruce Springsteen ready to go too. I honestly have so many covers I want to do, I kind of don’t even know where to start. I did make a playlist of tracks to cover, but it is at least 3 million songs long now, so it has stopped being helpful.

Outside of making music, you’ve been known to have pretty great taste in it - what are you listening to currently?

In 2020, my capacity for consuming new information in the form of new music was very very low, but M.T. Hadley’s project There Isn’t A Window That I Won’t Look Out Of was a beautiful, beautiful release. I have also been really enjoying Kiwi Rekords’ mixes and Bone Soda’s Isolation Therapy playlist. Jazmine Sullivan’s project is delicious as well, obviously.

With nothing but pure chaos in the rearview, what’s something you’re looking forward to in 2021?

There is so much music in the pipeline right now, so I’m looking forward to continuing to work on the things that are being worked on and releasing what is ready to be released. I’m also looking forward to hopefully being able to see many of the people I love and miss again once we are safe and spaces are safe. Also - again, only once it is safe - I am really looking forward to getting trashed and dancing somewhere that has a lot of other people doing the same thing. I hope this answer doesn’t age poorly.