Thursday, April 20, 2006  

Not for Adults Only
Rainer Maria matures from scrappy indie rock to polished pop
Washington Post Express, April 20, 2006; page 43

Rainer Maria is practically a classic-rock band at this point -- well, classic emo rock. It will be 11 years in October since bassist Caithlin De Marrais, guitarist Kyle Fischer and drummer William Kuehn adopted the first and middle names of German poet Rainer Maria Rilke and formed a band in Madison, Wisc. Kuehn says it's easy to keep plugging away even after all these years: "We really love it. There's only three of us so it makes it easier, and we're really great friends. I see no problem with living that lifestyle. Maybe some musicians do, but we all enjoy it so much. After 11 years everything is just second nature -- being in a band, being on the road -- we don't even think about it. It's just what we do."

Rainer Maria is going on a long tour to support "Catastrophe Keeps Us Together," its fifth studio album and first CD since 2004's live compilation "Anyone in Love With You (Already Knows)." The new disc is the band's most melodic and accessible album to date, and after hearing the title track and the soaring ballad "Already Lost" it's easy to imagine that this once-scrappy trio is headed for a musical guest slot on "The O.C."

While "Catastrophe" is brimming with catchy songs, its primary strength comes from vocalist De Marrais, whose pipes have evolved from a passionate yelp into a thing of beauty and power. Fischer usually sings a few songs with De Marrais, but on "Catastrophe" it's her voice alone. "Kyle's really been focusing on his guitar playing for the last two records," Kuehn says. "That's become his main focus and he's let Caitlin do a lot of the vocals. A lot of the lyrics were almost always written by Caitlin, especially the last two records. It just seemed natural for her to sing them. And Caitlin's voice has progressed so wonderfully over the years, and her voice is strong enough now where she can take the leads and it's more than enough. It's just the perfect voice for this band." CHRISTOPHER PORTER

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