NEW PRESS ABOUT RACHEL'S NEW ALBUM:

Rachel Efron debut's 'Put Out The Stars' -- by Teresa Thomas, Ashland Mail Tribune

On her new album, 'Put Out The Stars,' Efron breaks the imaginary pane of glass that separates herself from her listeners. >> link to full article

MAKING NOISE: Maine Refugee Efron bringing her lyrical 'art-pop' to town -- by Aimsel Ponti, Portland Press Herald

Efron has forged a distinct 'art-pop' sound for herself at the corner of jazz and pop with poetic lyrics and persuasive piano. >> link to full article

Watch a clip from Rachel's recent appearance on WCSH Channel 6 "207" live TV

**Girl’s First Blog

Yesterday I did my first interview for my new album, Put Out The Stars, with the weekly paper in Ashland, site of my first CD release show. I was asked many times, and in different ways, “What is the album about?” Believe it or not, this question stopped me dead in my tracks. As if I had never considered it. And all I wanted to say was… “Stop the clocks and turn off the fountain / Hold my illusion close to the ground / Split the rock that dreamed of this mountain / Sing my seclusion; stifle my sound / I could have held you; I would have tried to / Summoned my strength again though your past carved circles on me / You never fought it, fixed, or forgot it / Gave me the night and then / Your love had flown / Left me alone in the dark.” But of course that’s not an appropriate answer for an interviewer. And in fact, after saying precisely what my album was about on the album, itself, I couldn’t bear to say it again, and it in this wholly different way of sensibly, concisely. Not my forte even if I knew the answer.

It reminds me a bit of what I say to my songwriting students… “What is the song about?” And, “Yes, but then what is that about?” But when it comes to our own songs, ought we truly to know? Isn’t that for our listeners to decide? Isn’t it even presumptuous for us to be the ones to deconstruct that which we constructed?

I think it is presumptuous but as it seems I am being asked what my record is about (sensibly and concisely), I’ll take a stab at it. It’s about when all of the stars have been put out. No, I’m actually serious. It’s about when (seemingly) every last light in your life has been put out, and you are left there in the veritable dark. And ultimately, it is about what you begin to see once your eyes begin to adjust. It is about loss… of the things you used to see by, of other things, too… but moreso it is about the aftermath of loss, the beautiful and subtle new lights that begin to emerge, and finally, the formidable and beautiful rising out of ashes. I won’t tell you that this album isn’t, well… dark. But I hold that it is equally light. Particularly light.

As I wrote to my mailing list, I made this album just before, during, and just after a phase of crisis in my life--both personal and medical. Working with an energy deficit, every last bit of focus and energy I had went into my piano and vocal performances. It was terrifying, but also, it was transcendent--truly I lost all sense of myself and became exactly the thing I was trying to express. When I listen back to it now, what I hear is an uncanny direct access to the most deep and raw that I have ever felt. I will undoubtedly continue to grow and develop as an artist, but this album is one that I could never be graced to make again.

Is this what blogs are for? For answering questions well after botching interviews?

Yours Truly, Rachel