{"product_id":"lrain-artist","title":"L'Rain |  Artist","description":"\u003carticle\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003eArtist Profile\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTaja Cheek aka L'Rain is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and curator born in Brooklyn, New York. Cheek does not publish her birth date, but is known to have finishing High School in 2007 then graduated from Yale University in 2011. As L'Rain, she is known as the lead vocalist and songwriter of her eponymous band, and recognized for her experimental music that draws on a vast number of traditions and genres. Raised in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, Cheek lived with her mother, father, and grandparents. Her father worked in music marketing and promotion, her grandmother ran a liquor store, and in the 1950s her grandfather owned a neighborhood jazz club. Cheek's mother, Lorraine C. Porter, taught physical education, health, math, and science in Brooklyn schools. Cheek studied ballet and modern dance and learned piano, cello, and Baroque recorder before picking up bass in high school, where she formed groups including an Iron Maiden cover band. After university she resumed playing in Brooklyn bands including Throw Vision, who released their debut in 2013. In 2017 Cheek released her self-titled debut, composing and performing all vocals, keyboards, synthesizers, guitar, bass, samples, and percussion on the album. The artist's four studio albums to-date are \u003cem\u003eL'Rain\u003c\/em\u003e (2018), \u003cem\u003eFatigue\u003c\/em\u003e (2021), \u003cem\u003eI Killed Your Dog\u003c\/em\u003e (2023) and \u003cem\u003eFata Morgana\u003c\/em\u003e (2026). All are thoroughly recommended. Musically, L'Rain often layers and loops her vocals, and features samples from her collection of hundreds of field recordings, some pitch-shifted or otherwise manipulated beyond recognition. She has spoken in interviews about her desire to reject categorization, saying she \"values illegibility, and seeks to complicate assumptions about the relationship between identity and aesthetics\". Allmusic described L'Rain as making \"dreamy, genre-blurring music.. reflecting on grief, change, joy, and resistance through a collage-like mixture of soul, psychedelia, gospel, musique concrète, and numerous other genres\". As a multi-instrumentalist on her recordings, Cheek explains \"I'm trying to find a way to nurture my own voice and singular vision, especially as a Black woman musician, while also acknowledging that I work collaboratively with a team that is essential to the project.\" Andrew Lappin and Ben Chapoteau-Katz are credited as her collaborators and co-producers of her second and third albums. She has also collaborated with artists including Vagabon, Helado Negro, and Naama Tsabar, and performed with Kevin Beasley at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Complementing her music activities, Cheek is active in the arts community in New York. She joined the curatorial team at MoMA in 2016 and the same year opened the basement of her Brooklyn apartment to experimental music events under the name 49 Shade. In 2023, Cheek was announced as the first artist curator for BRIC's Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival, and in 2024 was appointed artistic director of Performance Space New York. The stage name L'Rain is an homage to her mother Lorraine who died before the release of her daughter's debut album.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/article\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eArtist Website: \u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.lrain.info\/\"\u003elrain.info\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFeatured Albums: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ca href=\"\/search?q=L'Rain%20title:Album\"\u003eL'Rain\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRelated Artists: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ca href=\"\/search?q='Andrew%20Lappin'\"\u003eAndrew Lappin\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mjq3UA3HxxA\" style=\"border-radius: 12px;\" height=\"100%\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KCBBBXlQowg\" style=\"border-radius: 12px;\" height=\"100%\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tGeRkoJdIdA\" style=\"border-radius: 12px;\" height=\"100%\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":null,"offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42808777703506,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1712\/4551\/files\/L_Rain-Band.jpg?v=1791948390","url":"https:\/\/www.artrockstore.com\/products\/lrain-artist","provider":"Artrockstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}