Sara Rachele + The Skintights are gearing up to release their new album Motel Fire on August 5 – a jangly mix of infectious fuzz-pop and atmospheric Americana. Rachele—along with her Skintights bandmates Gyasi Heus & wWaylon (yes wWaylon is his name)—lays down reverb-drenched songs full of sexy hooks, soaring vocal melodies and driving drum beats. Rachele has taken a bold turn musically from 2014’s Diamond Street that had similarities with the pop flourishes of Grace Potter, while this current work with the Skintights shows Rachele as a whole new “Emmylou.”
Rachele and wWaylon connected when she was back in East Atlanta Village recording Diamond Street. The pair began writing and touring intermittently, as Rachele played the folk clubs with Lisa Loeb, Shawn Colvin, Melissa Ferrick, and wWaylon stayed busy sharing the stage with folks like the Ataris, Benjamin Booker & Robert Ellis. Rachele + wWaylon would write and record together on off days, started singing each other’s songs, eventually took the songs out as touring partners, and became fast friends.
“We’re like a super-group nobody’s heard of,” Rachele says. “A bit of an old-country Dolly Parton obsessed queer punk guerilla-militia girl-scout troop.”
Glide is premiering the seductive “Missin’ My Baby” (below) off Motel Fire, a track that is stunning in its undeniable authenticity within an overpopulated twanged out scene. Rachele has a knack for imagery and a bygone soaked sound, but its her angelic voice that makes believers upon first listen.
“This song is one of our band favorites, as it features Chris Unck (the Black Widows) on pedal steel, ” describes Rachele. “He’s just a really emotive player, and as a producer, this magical human. We came in with a flushed out arrangement of the song, and he was supportive of us recording this live, and instructed the whole session in the most effortless way.
We had entire creative control on this record, which is a little scary sometimes, but I went in with the Skintights with the conscious decision that we we would use live vocal takes, so we would record what happened when we got the musicians together and played through the songs. The band came in and decided to make the chorus a waltz with the drums (Caleb and Stew got the vibe right from the outset, and play together all the time, so it was a thrill to have them together on this.”
” ..Then of course the Skintights — we did our thing, and Gyasi just really added to that overall vibe of the track, wWaylon guided the music from the base of a songwriting perspective, and then allowed me to come in and do whatever I wanted leading the song on the vocals,” continues Rachele. “There’s a lot of trust in that song, and I think you can hear it. We were careful with this one. We did the vocal one-take, and Unck shouts out of the booth “We got it.” That to me, was one of the most humbling, and special moments of my career. “
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