Rainbow Child is the harmonious folk side project of musicians Rupert Snook and Fraser Reeves, which began in 2007. It it difficult to describe their sound because it is very unique, although I do think they have a very "Kiwi" feel to them. If pushed I would say that their music is a bit Simon and Garfunkel-esq, with touches of a Pink Floyd atmosphere. The duo's music involves two vocals soaring with brilliant range and in complete harmony, over top Fraser's "folky" guitar and Rupert's combination of folk guitar, slide guitar, percussion, ukulele, and anything else that moves. This creates a warm and vibrant feel both in their recordings and their live performance.
On the recording that I have heard, the guitar tones are sweet, warm and sometimes sad. It mostly sounds very acoustic, but at times sounds slightly distant and a little gritty, such as on the song "Welcome to Paradise" and "Lily's Antarctic Summer." These differences in styles of sound have been fully taken into account when constructing the vocals and are done really, really well. It makes for great variation to their sound, and shows that Rainbow Child is not just a one trick pony.
The lyrics are constructed well, and suit the melodies perfectly. They tackle the topic of love in many different ways and "Twenty Years Her Senior" even delves into the taboo of extreme age difference within couples.
My one criticism is that on the home recording of the song "Journey by Candlelight" the electric guitar makes me lose the feeling of the song. To me it also it sounds both less professional than the other parts of the song and does not fit. However, that comment is only a personal artistic preference and is somewhat redundant as my flatmate said that it sounded awesome.
I am very glad that I have discovered Rainbow Child and am very impressed with the path that they are carving with their music and with them as musicians. I can see myself being both lulled to sleep by their beautiful harmonies (although I can imagine that they might find such an invitation slightly disconcerting) or shakin' my head and stompin' my feet along to the hand drum driven "Chicken Sunday." However, I have had to turn them off while writing this review because it keeps distracting me.
These kids know what they're doing, and are doing it superbly.
Check them out on:
http://www.myspace.com/rainbowchildnz
