Rainbow Star: “Music From The Rainbow Sparkle Palace: Vol. II” (2019) CD Review

A year ago I was turned onto an artist named Rainbow Star when she released an album titled Music From The Rainbow Sparkle Palace: Volume 1, a title which seemed to promise at least one follow-up. Well, that follow-up has arrived. Titled appropriately enough Music From The Rainbow Sparkle Palace: Vol. II, this disc contains all original material written and performed by Rainbow Star. Like the previous album, this one is largely a solo effort, with Rainbow performing the vocals and playing guitar, ukulele, banjo dulcimer, mountain dulcimer and chimes. In fact, she is joined by only one other musician, and only on one track. And as on the previous album, Rainbow Star addresses some serious subjects. The music this time around has more of an edge, with some angrier tones, a raw mix of punk and folk that seems to reflect the way many of us are feeling these days, in reaction to the news and the ongoing disaster in the White House and beyond. Several of these songs have a strong feminist bent, something that seems more and more important in our current political and social realms.

The album opens with “Morning At The Palace/Slow,” which begins with some soft sounds of nature, easing into the day. Then, after forty-five seconds or so, Rainbow Star begins some strumming on acoustic guitar, going into “Slow,” a song that was also included on her live album, Live At Cowan Chapel. There is a decidedly lo-fi sound to the vocals, like we are in her bedroom as she gets up and plays us this song, even speaking one line, “And I don’t have health insurance.” And because of that intimate quality to the sound, it feels like she is laying herself bare for us as she sings, “It’s just me battling my ego, just/Afraid of who I am and who you might be/And who you might think that I am.” She follows that with “Sunflowers.” Of course, any mention of sunflowers makes me think of Harold And Maude, my favorite film. The opening line, however, “I don’t care for sunflowers anymore,” reminds me that someone recently cut down the gorgeous sunflowers growing alongside the road a block from my apartment. I loved looking at those flowers whenever I passed by, which was often. Anyway, the line “Fuck you,” and the way she delivers it, came as such a surprise the first time I listened to this disc that I burst out laughing. “All the lies and the lies and the lies.” All the tracks on this album have an honest and candid ring to them, and though the lyrics are serious, because they feel so true there is a humor to them as well. For example, check out the opening lines of “Dopamine”: “Dopamine, don’t be mean/You know I’ll never really have that boy.”

There is something sweet and endearing about the sound of “(Wo) Mansplain,” which works in wonderful contrast to the lyrics. It is certainly in part the use of ukulele, which has a friendly, almost cute sound sometimes. And, before you ask, yes, I hate non-words like “mansplain,” and tend to bristle whenever I hear someone utter one (“guesstimate” is another that drives me crazy), but Rainbow Star is clearly playing on the ridiculousness of it, and reacting to the idea of a man speaking condescendingly. Check out these lines: “I really like to/Interrupt a man/Every chance I can/It’s very satisfying/I really like to show ‘em who’s boss/Who brought you into the world/Who’ll take you out of it/Out of it/Faster than you can say/White supremacy/And patriarchy.” This is a very cool song. And then check out these lines from “Happy”: “Things might be different/If I could find a metaphor for/Our tragic love/But like a highly anticipated pregnancy/Dead on arrival.”

“Happy” is followed by “Letters.” I should mention here that the track list on the back of the CD case isn’t completely correct, with a few songs listed in the wrong order. Anyway, regarding “Letters,” I particularly love this one as it nears its conclusion. Some of the lyrics catch me by surprise, and it ends with a spoken word part that is really effective. It’s like her emotion carries her away to the point where she can’t contain it in song anymore and just flat-out says what she wanted to say, something you don’t often find on an album. Rainbow Star follows that with a pretty and serious song, “Didn’t Nobody Come,” which feels like a traditional folk song. She then turns to the subject of men again with “Patriarchy Song,” a powerful track. I love that she doesn’t hold back, though to my ears, there is humor to it as well. Here is a taste of the lyrics: “It must be nice to be a guy/All of your anger justified/Get to do whatever you want/Nobody callin' you a – /It must be nice to be a man.” And check out these lines: “You're such a feminist that you'd break your vow of celibacy/Because the gods told you to penetrate me/It's not sex, it's just Tantric healing/My womb chakra needs some clearing.” Rainbow Star plays banjo dulcimer on this track.

On “Tarot” Rainbow Star is joined by Katie Gardner on cello, an instrument I always appreciate hearing. I love what she adds to this song. There is a darker tone to this one. “I don’t need to read no tarot/To know/This is going nowhere.” Things then get a bit lighter again with “Texas Oil Rig,” because of the presence of ukulele. “I chained myself to a Texas oil rig/I thought I could save the world/With all the love in my heart/For something so destructive.” The lyrics of “Bottles” speak of dreaming, and the song itself has something of dark, haunted, dreamlike quality, with deep tones on her guitar and certain words stretched. That’s followed by “Fairy Tales,” which returns to the image of a tarot reading in its opening lines. “We read your tarot/And we got it fuckin’ backwards/Put your future in the past/So it looked like you were not to fall in love with me.” Again, I love the humor to lines like those. Rainbow Star plays mountain dulcimer on this track.

Rainbow returns to ukulele on “Rachelcat” and mentions the instrument in the lyrics: “She taught me how to play ukulele like this/But she didn’t wanna take credit.” This is a song about friendship, celebrating it really. The lines that stand out for me are these: “She’s the most stellar listener I’ve ever met/And I’m tellin’ you, that’s quite a skill these days.” It’s also the way she delivers those lines, the second one almost as an aside. And I appreciate these lines: “I’m grateful to have a true friend in this world/It’s really hard to find/And everyone knows I don’t really like that many people/‘Cause most of them are shitty.” Then the first lines of “Angels” seem to be a play on Hamlet’s most famous soliloquy. “To go or not to go/Is the question I ought to know.” She begins “Amigod” by asking “What happens when you give up and you don’t want to fight no more?” This song is full of questions and questioning. Even the song’s title is a question. Though written as “Amigod,” what she sings is “Am I God?” “I have to ask why, I have to ask why/I have to ask why when I see my brothers, sisters hurting/I have to ask why when I see my mother hurting/I have to ask why when I see my whole planet hurting.” Indeed. The album then concludes with “Evening At The Palace/Berea Reprise,” which begins with the sounds of evening, insects and so on. This goes on much longer than necessary; it is nearly five minutes before Rainbow’s voice comes in. I love this album but I would have cut this. Ten or fifteen seconds would have sufficed. What she sings here is the chorus of “Berea,” a song from Music From The Rainbow Sparkle Palace: Volume 1. It’s interesting that she chooses a reprise of a song from the earlier album, not this one. Then the sounds of night take over once again. This track should be one or two minutes, but is nearly thirteen (and apparently on the digital release, it’s even longer).

CD Track List

1. Morning At The Palace/Slow
2. Sunflowers
3. Dopamine
4. (Wo) Mansplain
5. Happy
6. Letters
7. Didn’t Nobody Come
8. Patriarchy Song
9. Tarot
10. Texas Oil Rig
11. Bottles
12. Fairy Tales
13. Rachelcat
14. Angels
15. Amigod
16. Evening At The Palace/Berea Reprise

Music From The Rainbow Sparkle Palace: Vol. II was released on September 27, 2019.