Rachel Loy

Tongue & Teeth

If the title of Rachel Loy’s second CD suggests sharpness and bite, heed the warning. The sweet young thing finding her way through the world on 2005’s Love the Mess isn’t gone. She’s morphed into a confident young woman eyeballing life. That confidence translates into attitude, dealt out in spades here with the help of producer Carl Thiel, whose expert pop touch showcases Loy’s plaintive vocals and lyrical proficiency without sugarcoating her underlying determination. You can almost picture her crouched with her eyes squeezed shut and fingers plugging her ears, singing louder to drown out the other voices. That’s the dynamic behind opener “Get to Me,” a bolt right out of the gate that never stops running until the end. “You Win” and “Rational Girls” shine the light on the deeper hues in her compositions, an indication that Loy is a lifer. Tongue & Teeth, sink yours in.

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This article appears in August 3 • 2007.

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