Singer-songwriter Rachel Andie makes a second appearance on The Key Studio Sessions this week, this time with an all-new band backing her up.
A locally-rooted artist with a haunting, ethereal voice who writes folk-pop songs that introspectively touch on themes of mental health, family, and mortality, Andie was a fixture in the local scene in the late 20-teens. In 2019, she made her debut at WXPN studios with her band The Vth Element, playing music from their breathtaking record Tu Me Manques.
A couple years and one global pandemic later, Andie made a huge life decision: uprooting herself and traveling around the world to establish new roots Wellington, New Zealand. The move paid off in a big way: she landed a job working for the revered indie label Flying Nun Records, and her talents as a flautist, saxophone player, and guitarist found their way into numerous Kiwi indie rock bands like Specter Collective and Soaked Oats. On her previous visit home to Philly in 2022, Andie told us about some of her favorite music discoveries from her new home — and this time, she brought the New Zealand musicians who have helped her shape the sound of her own music in its new chapter.
Backed by bassist Reuben Bradley, guitarist James Phizacklea, and drummer Harper Wilson, Andie debuts four new songs in this performance, and they travel in a heady new direction inspired in part by Aldous Harding, and Radiohead’s In Rainbows. The music is mathy and complex (watch her nimble fret-tapping licks) but full of heart and packed with poppy melody, from the bossa nova-inspired “Glaucous” — the tentative title track to her next album — to the dreamlike roadhouse melody of “Strange,” the gentle sway of “Shot In The Dark” and the tangled twists and turns of “The End.”
Watch the performance below, and for more, catch Andie this Friday in one more Philadelphia performance before she heads back to Wellington; she’ll play a free concert at The Oval PHL on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, opening for SNACKTIME, and more information can be found here.