Local musician hits the right note

Rachel Ricciuti.

By Romy Stephens

After four years of hard work and establishing a sense of identity, Silvan’s Rachel Ricciuti has finally released her latest single.

The 19-year-old singer and songwriter released her track Bittersweet on 14 March.

She said the song has been a long time in the making.

“I’ve spent the last 12 months since I graduated trying to fine-tune everything about my music and my songwriting,” she said.

“It’s my first release since I was 15 so it’s a bit daunting but very exciting.”

Bittersweet was written off the back of Rachel’s graduation from The CMAA Academy in Tamworth.

She said it was inspired by graduating, growing up and finding a strong sense of self-awareness.

“I went through this phase when I got back that I was just flat out writing every day,” she said.

“I was trying to figure out exactly where my place in the world was.”

“Bittersweet felt like the start of a new songwriting journey for me, leaving behind my earlier songwriting style and moving into a stronger, bolder style that portrayed my newfound self-awareness.”

Rachel’s first live performance was at the Noojee Pub about six years ago where she was a guest with her Dad.

“He put me up on stage for the first time when I was 13 at the Nojee Pub and he couldn’t get me down after that,” she said.

She quickly became a regular feature of the act and she continues to play regular gigs there still.

Healesville Races is another of her regular local gigs, where members look forward to her presence and often book marquees around her appearances.

Bittersweet was produced by Dave Walker of Green South Records, featuring numerous talented musicians such as four-time Golden Guitar winning Lawrie Minson on the harmonica.

It is the first single from Rachel’s second album. Her first album Wrote A Song was released when she was 15 years old.

Rachel also created a video clip for the song with a school friend, which was filmed in Silvan and Healesville.

The single can be found on Spotify, bandcamp, Apple Music and Youtube.