Photos and review by NOTES FROM VIVACE
LOS ANGELES – The chamber pop duo Gracie and Rachel (Gracie Coates and Rachel Ruggles) recently released their third studio album “If We Could, Would We.”
The album was created in a unique fashion. The two of them were friends at Berkeley, California. They then moved to Brooklyn and released their debut album. Over time, their personal lives resulted in the duo living in different parts of the state. With that constraint, they created a “Venn diagram” album with each contributing four songs and then collaborating on four songs for the 12-track album.
The final tour stop for promoting the album was at Permanent Records Roadhouse where they were greeted by an enthusiastic crowd. Their two person backing band gave the duo a proper musical entrance as they walked past their fans to get to their stage spots. They started off the set with their opening track “WTF.” The world is sometimes (always) upside down and you’ve just got to sing out WTF.
It was an ethereal atmospheric night with Coates on keyboards and Ruggles switching between violin and guitar. Their musical creation was perhaps best highlighted by “Green Light” that drew some of the loudest cheers. Those cheers got the response from the band, “You’re a beautiful crowd.” Someone in the audience responded back, “Thank you.”
Their venn diagram experience in creating their album was a focus for “Undertow” and “Caroline.” Coates wrote the first while Ruggles wrote the second. “Undertow” has the influences of jazz while “Caroline” goes minimalist.
They closed out the set with “Myself Again.” Yet, their devoted fans wanted an encore. The duo joked that it would be strange for them to walk off the stage and come back (there are no side exits for a proper stage disappearance at the venue) so they launched right into their encore “Call Away.”
Some additional observations from the set was that all four members wore white and Ruggles was tapping those violin pedal boards all night long.
Opening up the night was Gold Child (the moniker for Emily Fehler). Her music was an open book about her past relationships. In country-pop fashion she sang about the bitterness that was left behind when her high school boyfriend broke up with her in “Used To Hate You.” Her unreleased song “Unraveling” was about the ending of a 13 year relationship while another unreleased song “Halfway” was about a situationship that was not ideal.
Gracie and Rachel Setlist: WTF, How Can I, Leaving Home Is Going Home, Green Light, Underneath, Undertow, Caroline, Run Dry, Water, Myself Again. Encore: Call Away.
Gold Child setlist: Used to Hate You, Angelina Jolie, Halfway, On The Other Side, Unraveling, Lipstick, Taste of You, Drunk Text.