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Written by Linda Koffman

"The name Birds Fled From Me is taken from a Pablo Neruda poem, and it suits the sound of Rachel Williams well. Beautifully romantic, at times dark and longing but always moving, the alternative folk-pop of the young singer/songwriter is imbued with the same delicate passion and graceful lyrical strolls as the works of the famed Chilean writer. The girl feels and will make you do the same. “I kind of laugh at myself because I enjoy my music but I’m never really sure if anybody else does,” the 22-year-old admits with humble candor. “I don’t want people to think I’m just another wounded bird pining after some guy and that’s all I think about. But that’s not a bad life, either,” she adds with a chuckle referring to her personal tributes to heartbreak and young love, which are striking a chord and garnering her a devoted following. Though she defines her self-recorded, debut 12-track album, Deeper Lurking, as “a collection of love songs and lullabies part of a back catalogue of songs from the past five years,” Williams is not your typical songstress. Check out “Drums2” on her MySpace. It’s a furious amalgam of adrenaline-rushing drums, electronics and screaming vocals mashed into one red flag warning listeners that she isn’t darting for some Lilith Fair stage. From Newbury Park, Calif., she first came to Santa Cruz four years ago and has solidified an impressive footing in the music scene ever since. Part of a tight family of local indie bands nurtured by Loves In Heat Records, which is run by Depth Charge Revolt singer Hector Lee Heaviside, Williams describes the DIY label as “more of a music community and a place for people to stay motivated to keep making music.” Part of that community includes her other main musical outlet—the heavily layered, beautifully chaotic psych-folk band Sleepy Sun, for which she imparts vocals. Asked to join the growingly popular ensemble in January of this year, Williams has been getting much of her performance fix as part of the contrasting 8-piece that will open up for Mudhoney at The Rio this December. Still, the lyrical prowess and intimacy of her Birds Fled From Me style and show proves cathartic for both Williams and her audience, and she remains a standout solo performer who’s taken the differing stages of the Kuumbwa Jazz Center, Blue Lagoon, Vets Hall and The Crepe Place. Gorgeous vocals laced with ambient effects evoke the likes of Fiona Apple and Britain’s Nicola Hitchcock (formerly of trip-hop duo Mandalay), or when a cappella Jolie Holland, and the classically trained pianist escorts her sentimental writing with keys also at times elaborate and other times ornamental in its minimalism. And just when you’re not looking, Birds Fled From Me meanders off any routine path with atypical nuances chucked in. Take the solemn “Bring Back Yours,” which spirals into a playful yet eerie end of repeating vocals and electronic stuttering reminiscent of a broken toy winding down on dying batteries. There belies a more experimental, whimsical sensibility to Williams’ brand of balladry. One would expect nothing less from a self-described “die-hard Bjork fan.” Growing up on a diet of classical music, Tori Amos—whom she says is “like a mother to me through her music,” and Bjork—because “every bit of her exudes creativity”—it’s easy to understand her own natural evolution into an untraditional pianist and emotive lyricist. Williams churns out songs in the same confessional and striking manner as those who inspire her. “I love the idea of making someone cry with your music by just going in with your words and pulling tears from their eyes,” she says. “But that kind of power is also so scary.” When she began to perform and realize her own ability to impact listeners the way her famous predecessors do, the force behind Birds Fled From Me was initially confounded. “At first I was really embarrassed, worried and turned off because I didn’t want that,” she says of her early reaction to people approaching her after shows moved to tears. “But then I was reminded of my own experience with music. I’m honored that I can do that for people.”
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"Written by Avery James
Wednesday, 13 February 2008
It’s often surprising to find out exactly what sort of talent resides in town, sometimes even working at your local record store. Birds Fled From Me is the project of Rachel Williams, a 21-year old singer/songwriter originally from Newbury Park. Williams, the daughter of a classical pianist, writes songs that are generally piano-based, but often include charming, homemade percussive elements and beautiful, multi-tracked vocal harmonies. Her piano playing is highly competent to say the least, but seems to exist only to serve the song itself, an admirable quality in a performer. Songs like “Oh My Love,” and “The Resisted” manage to showcase her considerable instrumental talents without being flashy, but Williams shrugs it off. “I took lessons for a while,” she says, “But I just kind of try to utilize certain aspects of playing that I like, instead of pursuing classical competition.” Her voice, whose affects owe a bit to Björk and Fiona Apple, is also an impressive instrument. Some songs are vocals only, such as the gorgeous “Make a Move,” (off the release Compliments of a Woman, which Williams claims is “sort of a joke album”) and most feature some sort of harmony. “I have the most control over my voice tone-wise and sound-wise,” Williams says. “I’m pretty in control of the piano—when I want to hear something, I can play it. But I’m in the most control when I sing it.” Like most good songwriters, Williams’ subject matter can be playful, humorous and heartbreaking, often all in a single, three-minute pop song. Songs like “The Resisted,” however, can lean more toward the “heartbreaking” side of things. “I find a lot of comfort in storyboarding it,” she says, “writing it into something that seems less of something that has actually happened to me and more just a song that I’m hearing, a song that I play.”


"FLY, FLY AWAY
Muz
Rachel Williams brings an artic blast to a warm Santa Cruz summer night with her airy folk singing
By Paul Davis
Local folk siren Rachel Williams has been transfixing audiences in recent months performing under the moniker Birds Fled From Me. With a crisp, ethereal air in her stunning voice, Williams' singing evokes the soaring, arctic heights of Björk, if the Icelandic enchantress took cues from the spare arrangements of Cat Power. Last Thursday at the Crepe Place, Williams performed for a rapt audience, layering loops of harmonizing vocals to hypnotic effect. Opening for touring Brooklynites Tall Firs, Williams threatened to steal the show from the Thurston Moore-approved indie rockers.Though she's been recording for years under the moniker Birds Fled From Me, Williams' live performances remain a bit rough around the edges--the guitar is quiet and halting, and songs were abandoned midstream when they didn't seem to work. In the casual setting of the Crepe Place, this added to Williams' charm and the mystique of her songs, as she ambled through a set of impressive originals, and an off-the-cuff Justin Timberlake cover, with an affecting joy and modesty. This isn't to suggest that Tall Firs put on an inferior performance. If anything, the East Coast three-piece won over a crowd primarily in attendance to catch Williams' set with a meditative batch of songs. Tall Firs' chiming guitar harmonics suggested Unwound, if the seminal Olympia indie rockers had cultivated a keener melodic sense. Not shockingly, considering that the band is signed to Sonic Youth majordomo Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace label, Tall Firs' music bore a similarity to their boss' primary concern. While not earth-shatteringly innovative or challenging, Tall Firs effectively revisited and refreshed a well-established strain of indie rock. Rachel Williams did double-duty this week, appearing onstage Friday night with Santa Cruz psych rockers Sleepy Sun at the Blue Lagoon. This collective of young longbeards has become one of the town's most beloved bands in a very short period of time, laying down lumbering servings of heavy psychedelic freakadelia and dusted Northern Californian psych-folk. Williams' angelic voice weaves in-between a sublimely mind-rattling cacophony reminiscent of Santa Cruz psych-rock alumni Comets on Fire at their headiest. Considering the lineage of its sound, Sleepy Sun appropriately supported Howlin' Rain, the side-project of Comets on Fire's Ethan Miller. A rambling, pastoral folk-rock outfit, Howlin' Rain allows Miller to indulge his jones for Creedence, Neil Young and other kindred long-haired spirits. Among those in attendance, the consensus appeared to be that Sleepy Sun kept Miller's outfit on its toes with its fearsome set. If rapturous local buzz is any indication, Sleepy Sun might be the best bet of the next Santa Cruz band to break big."