Rainer Maria is an American

emo Emo is a rock music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of and hardcore punk from the Washington D.C. hardcore punk scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore and pioneered b ...

band from

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, later residing in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. The band was originally active from 1995 to 2006 and reunited in 2014.

History

Caithlin De Marrais, Kaia Fischer and William Kuehn formed the band in late summer of 1995 and named it after the German-language poet

Rainer Maria Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), shortened to Rainer Maria Rilke (), was an Austrian poet and novelist. He has been acclaimed as an idiosyncratic and expressive poet, and is widely recogni ...

. They released five full-length albums, a live DVD, numerous live recordings, and EPs. In its earlier days, the band had a dual male and female vocal line-up; later, De Marrais would become the lead vocalist in a majority of their songs. The gender ambiguity of the name Rainer Maria paralleled this and was one of the reasons it was selected as the band's name. The band's many tours and intimate live shows at venues such as Brooklyn's North Six (which lead singer Caithlin De Marrais referred to as "home" during her final show because it also served as the band's rehearsal space),

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Black Cat A black cat is a domestic cat with black fur that may be a mixed or specific breed, or a common domestic cat of no particular breed. The Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) recognizes 22 cat breeds that can come with solid black coats. The Bombay b ...

, the

Bowery Ballroom The Bowery Ballroom is a New York City live-music venue located at 6 Delancey Street in the neighborhood of Bowery in Manhattan. The Bowery Ballroom holds something of a cult status among musicians as well as audiences. ''Rolling Stone'' magazi ...

in NYC, and Chapel Hill's Cat's Cradle helped to grow its fan base and fuel album sales. On November 6, 2006, the band announced, through

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...

, that the December 16th show at New York City's Bowery Ballroom would be their last. It was accompanied by this statement: :"We are grateful to our new listeners and especially our longtime fans for their endless support and attention. We feel incredibly fortunate to have come up during a unique time in rock music, in a community that grew with us from the Midwest to Brooklyn and beyond. Making records has always been a revelation, and walking onto stage together we found a vision we could share. :"For us, this transition can be nothing short of heartbreaking. But for reasons both musical and personal, the three of us have chosen this time to move on." The band played their last show on December 17, 2006, at North Six in Brooklyn. They opened with "Artificial Light" and closed with a lengthy version of "Rise." Referring to the intensity of the show and the enthusiasm of the crowd, guitarist Kaia Fischer at one point remarked jokingly in-between songs "we should break up every night."

Reunion

The band played a reunion show at the Bowery Ballroom in Manhattan on December 31, 2014; additional shows were added for February 14, 2015, at Lincoln Hall in Chicago; April 18, 2015, at Union Transfer in Philadelphia; and July 10–11, 2015, in Brooklyn. They played again in Brooklyn on December 31, 2016, and January 1, 2017. The band released ''S/T'', their first album in 11 years, in August 2017.

Band members

*Caithlin De Marrais — bass, vocals *Kaia Fischer — guitar, vocals, synths *William Kuehn — drums, percussion

Discography

Albums

*''

Past Worn Searching ''Past Worn Searching'' is the debut studio album by American indie rock band Rainer Maria, released in 1997. Critical reception The ''Wisconsin State Journal'' thought that "plaintive ballads like 'Viva Anger, Viva Hate' and 'Sickbed' are impres ...

'' (1997) (

Polyvinyl In polymer chemistry, vinyl polymers are a group of polymers derived from substituted vinyl () monomers. Their backbone is an extended alkane chain . In popular usage, "vinyl" refers only to polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Examples Vinyl polymers are ...

) *'' Look Now Look Again'' (1999) (Polyvinyl) *'' A Better Version of Me'' (2001) (Polyvinyl) *'' Long Knives Drawn'' (2003) (Polyvinyl) *''

Catastrophe Keeps Us Together ''Catastrophe Keeps Us Together'' is the fifth studio album by American indie rock band Rainer Maria. It was promoted with a US tour in April and May 2006. In September 2006, they appeared at Denver Fest II. Two months later, the band broke up, ci ...

'' (2006) (Grunion) *'' S/T'' (2017) (Polyvinyl)

EPs

*''

Rainer Maria Rainer Maria is an American emo band from Madison, Wisconsin, later residing in Brooklyn, New York. The band was originally active from 1995 to 2006 and reunited in 2014. History Caithlin De Marrais, Kaia Fischer and William Kuehn formed the b ...

'' (1996) *''Atlantic'' (1999) (Polyvinyl) *'' Ears Ring'' (2002) (Polyvinyl)

Singles

* "New York, 1955" b/w "Up Until This Time" 7" (1997) (Polyvinyl) * "Hell or High Water" b/w "Paper Sack" 7" (2000) (Polyvinyl) * "Artificial Light" (2001) (Polyvinyl) * "Ears Ring" (2002) (Polyvinyl) * "Catastrophe" (2006) (Grunion) * "Lower Worlds" (2017) (Polyvinyl)

Compilations

*''Rainer Maria'' (2011) - collecting the ''Rainer Maria'', ''Atlantic'' and ''Ears Ring'' EPs

Other releases

*''Demo Tape'' (1995) *''Anyone in Love With You (Already Knows)'' (2004) - live CD/DVD (Polyvinyl) * ''Life of Leisure'' (LP version/acoustic version) - CD single (Grunion, 2006)

Music videos

*"Catastrophe" (2006, directed by David Ahuja & Claire Carré) *"Ears Ring" (2003, directed by David Ahuja)

References

External links

Official websiteRainer Maria ''Catastrophe Keeps Us Together'' Review (UpBeetMusic.com)Polyvinyl Records - Atlantic EP
{{Authority control American emo musical groups Indie rock musical groups from Wisconsin Musical groups established in 1995 Musical groups disestablished in 2006 Musical groups reestablished in 2014 Musical groups from Brooklyn