Rachel Collis - Review

Rachel Collis at the Glebe Church Café
Reviewed by Regi Su

Rachel Collis, a classically trained vocalist and pianist, branches out to pop-music, writing and composing original pieces that truly illustrate her talent for storytelling tales that are both theatrically entertaining and profoundly moving. Her gig at the Glebe Church Café proved to be a great, intimate space for Rachel to present her most recent album- Ever After.

Rachel is such a great composer and a professional in musicianship. Her shaped, flawless talent in piano is honestly breathtaking and her vocal talents are exquisite. She has such vocal range and power. The show was wholly hosted by her and so not only did her personality present itself through her lyrically heavy music, but also in the side dialogue of commentary made to a small intimate audience. In such an informal setting, Rachel seemed to be very at home, confident and in control, all feelings which definitely aided her performance by adding an extra ounce of passion.

Although graced with such a vocal range and great power, I feel that Rachel’s strengths are her enthusiasm and flair. She seems to hunger for the big time and she gave all of her efforts and attention to our small crowd. The only disappointment for me was that the crowd wasn’t larger. Her quick and witty lyrics are heavy with narrative and she has a knack for intelligent life commentary through her music, yet at the same time, a lot of her tunes seem introspective. She’s rather Regina Spektor-esque in wordplay and effortless vocals. She’s definitely an interesting break from your usual music.

Rachel is a cabaret act and needs to be seen as well as heard. I feel that she yearns for Broadway and this was evident in her theatricalities, in gesture, storytelling and commentary. As I was sitting in the audience I closed my eyes and saw her clothed in black, rising on a broomstick with a green facial like something from the stage show Wicked. She has talent, it’s true.

Rachel’s lyrics are disquietingly deep if you listen to the words and manage to deconstruct a metaphor out of her frivolity. If you don’t, she’s still fantastic entertainment. Her quiet vocals and piano accompaniment, in songs like “Echo”, are simple and expressive, they’re very powerful. As well as this, her whole band compositions, with double bass and electric guitars, drums and more, are very clever. Her music is the sort of music you could hum to, but song along with. You could have her on while making toast or having a lie-down because her music requires an element of your attention, it’s definitely not background music.

Rachel Collis is a great character, personality and singer/songwriter. Her next show is on the 21st at the Glebe Church Café as part of the Sydney Fringe Festival. For more information, visit: http://www.rachelcollis.com/