Rachel's

Although the avant chamber trio Rachel's did not fully emerge until after the breakup of the seminal Louisville indie group Rodan, the trio's origins dated back to 1989, when guitarist and bassist Jason Noble first met violinist and Juilliard alumnus Christian Frederickson on a Baltimore trolley. After the duo composed a 1991 Christmas tape dubbed "Rachel's Halo," they parted ways while Noble tenured in Rodan; upon reuniting in 1994, they formed Rachel's, named after Noble's Toyota Corolla and not after the group's third member, pianist Rachel Grimes. In 1995, the group debuted with Handwriting, a dark fusion of classical and experimental sounds influenced by film music; a year later, Rachel's returned with two separate releases, Music for Egon Schiele (composed by Grimes for a theatrical dance production based on the life of the famed Austrian painter) and The Sea and the Bells (which featured an orchestra employing over a dozen musicians). Selenography followed in 1999, and in the spring of 2000 the group resurfaced with Full on Night, a collaboration with Matmos. Three years later, they hooked up with the New York theater collective SITI Company for the Systems/Layers release. In 2002 percussionist Edward Grimes began to perform with his own group, Seulah, a band with a darker, noir-influenced sound. Christian Frederickson also branched out, composing 2010's "The Painted Bird," an interdisciplinary piece created in collaboration with director Pavel Zustiak. In 2012, founding member Jason Noble passed away after a three-year battle with synovial sarcoma, a rare form of cancer. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi