Rachel Chinouriri - 'Riptide'

If you have the ability to captivate one-third of Alt-J to the point where he’s listening to your song on repeat: you know you must be doing something right. Rachel Chinouriri is a singer-songwriter who, only having started recording songs two years ago, has the ability to captivate you in an instant.

‘Riptide’ is the latest release from Rachel Chinouriri, who is maturing as an artist and finding the right sound for herself. The demo’s that she released at 17 are mostly acoustic love songs but ‘Riptide’ is an experimentation in introducing other instruments into the fold. It is one of those songs that you cannot help but sway along to, with its bouncy bass line and jazzy guitar riffs. There’s something about Rachel that struggles to be defined: but within this latest release there are subtle elements that remind me of Solange, as opposed to the more cinematic and ambient Daughter-style of the previous songs.

What is most prevalent about ‘Riptide’ is that it is pure poetry. Rachel’s hypnotically silken and colourful vocal delivery evokes pure joy from within – “a boy was here and the boy was always mine.” The song itself is about the insecurities that you find in a relationship, without reason – the magic of this song is that whilst the lyrics are stunning, the entire body of work is so well thought out that there isn’t a certain part that fights for attention. It is incredibly balanced and shows major progression from her previous releases that – to be honest – were already near-perfection. 

Words by Tyler Damara Kelly

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