Rockbites: CD Review: Rainer Maria’s A Better Version Of Me

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January 2001 • Rockbites Alternative Daily

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CD Review: Rainer Maria’s A Better Version Of Me
24 January 2001

Like an unlit sculpture garden you wander through on a moonless night, the new full-length by US trio Rainer Maria—Caithlin De Marrais (vocals and bass), Kyle Fischer (guitar and vocals), and William Kuehn (drums)—is rarely what it seems on first, or second, impression. Things mutate as you get closer or move farther away. Simple grows to deep. Radio friendly warps to dark and troubling. But from all angles there’s a mysterious fascination.
    The band worked on the album’s nine songs for over a year, but wrapped up the recording sessions in their hometown of Madison, Wisconsin in just two weeks. Heading into Butch Vig’s Smart Studios this past September they clearly knew what they wanted.
    The complex and ever changing texture on this wonderful set is all the more remarkable given Rainer Maria’s promise to themselves to put to tape essentially no more than they could perform live. The endless layers are largely implied, suggested, or hallucinatory: trompe l’oreille.
    From the first notes of opener Artificial Light it’s clear that these kids are dead serious about what they’re doing. Poetic and beautiful, yes, but there’s not a millimeter of slack. With taut emotional insistence, A Better Version Of Me’s songs are not so much performed as triumphantly revealed.
    The album’s title comes from the poignantly ironic final track, Hell And High Water, sung by Caithlin. Here’s a small excerpt

I’ve seen her sorting through my memories
What’s sweet, what’s bitter
She wants what I can’t give her

It’s a highwire act to balance emotion and intellect, heart and mind, in a song. Done right, you can’t tell an artist is even trying. But that’s damn rare. On this album Rainer Maria don’t entirely disappear the machinery of their intent, but the distraction is minor. These are great songs that get better and better with repeated listening.
    A Better Version Of Me is out this week on Polyvinyl Records. Four bites out of five. | Rainer Maria | | Chicago performance, Oct 2000 (RealVideo) | | Spit And Fire/Artifical Light, live Nov 1999 (MP3) | | tour dates | | bio | | discography | | sample | | CD | | top of page |

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