Duets are like holy matrimonies in music. They are meant to be matches made in the Heaven of five-stave scores and crotchety notes holding hands with slurs and ties, having pianissimo tenderness and fortissimo passion in 4/4 time.
You have men and wives like Damien Rice and Lisa Hannigan, Ola Klüft and Sarah Isaksson (Pills), Gary Lightbody and Martha Wainwright (Set the Fire to the Third Bar), Justin Furstenfeld and Imogen Heap (Congratulations), Joshua Radin and Schulyer Fisk (Paperweight), Ben Gibbard and Jen Wood (Nothing Better), Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan (Heart), and if you may, even Jason Mraz and Colbie Calliat (Lucky).
Like timeless couples, these duos are hard to tear apart and mess with. They may try, but the effect will never be the same. Like the first kiss you get from your first love. When Hannigan went to sing Wainwright’s part with Lightbody, it might as well work, but you know that taste in your mouth that it can never compare to her many duets with Rice in The Blower’s Daughter or 9 Crimes.
And with every female vocalists Rice had to accompany his sets after Hannigan left, you know there will never be another woman who can hold it as well as Hannigan when she does Cold Water or Sleep Don’t Weep. Heck, Mraz sang Lucky with Penny Tai, and looked what a mess she made. It’s OK, Mraz, you’ll find your match someday.
When I heard Rachael Yamagata and Ray LaMontagne together, I knew instantly it was the right marriage. Like a girl marrying the boy she played hopscotch with when they were 8. They are mirrors of each other. If LaMontagne were a female vocalist, he may as well sound like Yamagata, and vice versa.
They carried the same weight in their voice, and the same sadness that when blended together in Duet, the sad song ain’t so sad after all. As long as they have each other.
My sister is getting married tomorrow, and I thought I should write a post to commemorate this wonderful day for her. I doubt she even knows this blog exists, but if she shares the same romanticism as I, this would be the song I will dedicate to her and her husband.
I wish you love. So, cheers.
Download the aptly named Duet from Rachael Yamagata’s Elephants… Teeth Sinking into Heart HERE.
Posted by Celeste
Posted by vernadium
Posted by vernadium 

