Young, Gifted & Baltic
Rita Ray
Feature Interview
“Being overly critiqued by myself and others, working with this album felt truly healing to me,” says Rita Ray in the press blurb for her new album Live in Concert. “Accepting myself in this precise moment, with all my flaws and mistakes, isn’t always an easy thing to do. But step by step, it is the only way to feel like I’m enough in my own skin,” she says with modesty.
Not that her growing legion of fans would agree. With a seemingly unblemished, anointed voice that feels more suited to the streets of Detroit than a small town in Estonia, Rita Ray continues to solidify her status as a rising star of soul music. Even when under the weather, her professionalism ensures there’s no let-up in passion or quality.
On a sub-zero night during Tallinn Music Week, at a multi-artist event hosted by her record company, Funk Embassy, there was a virtual stampede as Rita Ray, the recently crowned Estonian Female Artist of the Year, took to the stage at Von Krahl. Punters left their winter coats in the hall and deserted the single-file queue at the bar to rush toward the auditorium as her band started to play. Despite carrying a cold, she ripped through a set featuring songs from her 2019 debut Old Love Will Rust and its 2022 follow-up, A Life of Its Own—a modern soul masterpiece and Album of the Year at the Estonian Music Awards.
“It was some kind of miracle,” Rita says days later from her bright and serene apartment in Tallinn, Estonia’s capital city. Feeling better, nursing a hot cuppa, and sitting with her cat on her lap, she continues, “Just seconds before the show, my speaking voice started to crack, and I got so freaked out. But I got through it. The stars must have aligned.”
Capturing the lightning in a bottle of her live performances, the new Live in Concert album covers a series of Rita’s shows with a full orchestra called Üenso (conducted by Kaspar Mänd). The recordings took place at Tartu Vanemuise Concert Hall and Estonia’s largest venue, Alexela, just before her second album’s release. Beneath her name—displayed in Hollywood lights, capitalised, and suspended from the ceiling—Rita delivers the show’s centrepiece: the title track from her first album, Old Love Won’t Rust. Reminiscent of Aretha Franklin and The Sweet Inspirations in their prime, there’s a moment when Rita’s voice soars to the rafters while the band drops out, leaving her accompanied only by strings and backing vocalists.
“I’ve always loved listening to my favourite artists’ live albums more than the studio ones.”
“Releasing a live album has been a dream of mine since I started writing music,” says Rita—actual name Kristi Raias—who writes all her own material. Hanging on the magnolia wall behind her is a poster from one of her concert hall gigs, framed with pride. “There’s something special about live performance. I’ve always loved listening to my favourite artists’ live albums more than the studio ones. I guess it’s because you can truly capture the artist’s essence only in live recordings.”
While Funk Embassy label head & DJ Henrik Ehte was touring in Spain with Lexsoul Dancemachine, Rita’s co-producer Robert Linna (a member of the band, along with producer Martin Laksberg) recommended the then-relatively unknown Kristi.
“Robert told me, ‘She’s gonna be huge. The voice, the songwriting, it’s all there.’”
“I didn’t want to do it independently,” says Rita, who had already recorded her debut album when she met Ehte. “I didn’t have a clue how to promote it. I didn’t have the contacts, so I wanted to do something bigger, and Henrik really helped me have more people than just my friends and family listen to it.”
Photo by Sadu
Rita grew up in a small town called Põlva, not far from Estonia’s second-biggest city, Tartu. She attended music school there, but since she lived just outside of town, getting there was a challenge.
“Cars were a luxury for Estonians. I mean, we had cars, but our family didn’t have a proper one. Just a Zhiguli, this awful Soviet thing that broke almost every time you tried to go anywhere,” says Rita, laughing. “So I had to get the bus.”
At music school, Rita’s friends were mostly into Estonian pop, which she describes as sounding dated compared to western pop music, harking back to heavy 90s dance tracks.
“I was the weird one,” Rita smiles. “I got into soul and jazz after my teacher (Peeter Änilane) got me hooked. The first pivotal soul artists for me were Aretha and Etta James. I also remember my teacher showing me a live Janis Joplin performance on this big widescreen, but the video quality was terrible. It really stuck with me—the energy, the grittiness, and that rasp. Such an unusual voice.”
“She’s gonna be huge. The voice, the songwriting, it’s all there.”
Then guitarist in Rita’s band, Kristen Kütner—there’s an old video on YouTube of Kristen let loose on a solo while Rita covers Etta James—introduced her to bandmates Robert and Martin, aka Solid Gold Sound Productions, through his other group, Lexsoul Dancemachine.
“They helped me shape the album. They’re really into soul and funk and made all my ideas come to life.”
At the time, Lexsoul Dancemachine—check out the meaty funk classic Beef Grinder from their 2015 album Deus Lex Machina—were also signed to Ehte’s label Funk Embassy.
“What I really like about Henrik is that he’s not afraid to dream,” says Rita. “I think we’re similar in that way. He has this motto: ‘No problems, just answers,’ which I really like. He’s always moving forward, trying to evolve.”
At one point during the interview, I nearly drop Ehte in it when Rita notices I have an unsigned copy of her latest album, A Life of Its Own.
“Wait, so you don’t have an autographed copy? Henrik just gave you a CD without an autograph!?” she says jokingly, in mock condemnation, not realising I’d already bought mine before arranging the interview.
A beautiful package, it feels like holding a classic Roberta Flack album on Atlantic Records in the ’70s. With an eye for authenticity that is mirrored in her music, it’s no surprise Rita was involved in every aspect of the record’s release.
“I have to be honest, I’m a bit of a control freak,” Rita says, laughing. “I’m really particular about everything—the design, the promotion, all those small things. I was really involved, but we worked with a great designer called Estookin. Obviously, I couldn’t do everything myself,” she says, before a pause and adding, “I think I just love to nag!”
The design incorporates shots of the oppulent studio where A Life of Its Own was recorded: Studio 1 at Estonian Public Broadcasting, with its triangular carved ceilings, red drapes and waxed parquet floor, there to enhance the acoustics for orchestras, strings, and bass.
“It was the place where most of Estonia’s Soviet soul and funk was recorded,” Rita explains. “Like a Motown—every day there was an orchestra sitting and playing music. It’s where Maryn recorded.”
Maryn E. Coote, also known as Marju Kuut, is an Estonian soul and jazz folk hero – the nations sweetheart before she was blacklisted by the Soviet regime after defecting to Sweden. She passed away in 2022, but her legacy and influence on Estonian music cannot be understated.
“She was amazing—something else. Really talented as a producer, singer, and songwriter—she could do everything. It was hard to be a musician here during the Soviet Union, so when I discovered her years later, at about 19, I fell in love instantly with the way she sang in Estonian, the meaningfulness of her phrasing.”
“Maryn was amazing. It was hard to be a musician here during the Soviet Union.”
As a gift, Rita was given a pair of Maryn’s sunglasses—something she cherishes.
“I hope that in some way I can have her spirit and talent when I put them on,” says Rita, her voice wavering with emotion.
The studio dynamics were perfect for the expansive sound of the album’s first single, Love Ain’t the Same, which received extensive airplay on the BBC when released.
“I was listening to a lot of American music and cinematic soul, so I grabbed my friends—fellow musicians, classical violinists and cellists—and aimed for a bigger sound, the next level.”
A Life of It’s Own
Written a long time ago, the subject matter is deeply personal - concerning a previous relationship. “It really crushed me,” says Rita openly. “I didn’t have any hope left, and I was getting cynical, really pessimistic.”
Another song with striking lyrics is the funky socio-soul, two-part thriller Ms. Steal-Your-Man, named after a friend who, to this day, still hasn’t realised it’s about her.
“I’d like to keep her identity secret. I think she was in a bad place, but things got out of hand. Even now, we sometimes communicate, but I have to say thank you…” Rita laughs. “Because her actions inspired me.”
A clavinet-laced groove, Ms. Steal-Your-Man builds to a crescendo, inspired by Donna Summer’s Love to Love You, Baby. At Von Krahl, the keys were played by Mikk Kaasik, a virtuoso who used to compete against a youthful Kristi in local talent shows.
“We hated him! He always won the competitions. He was the boy, he could sing, he could play. Everyone gave him the points—but I’m glad to say we’re good friends now. We can laugh about this petty drama.”
Rita’s credits on Live in Concert include string arrangements—“This is my secret passion; there’s nothing like the feeling of holding a score in your hand”—and playing the piano. In her sunlit apartment, behind her blonde hair (Rita has since gone brunette with a hint of red) and left shoulder, stands a polished mahogany upright piano—a recent purchase, she says—an instrument she’s using to compose songs for her third album.
“Whilst I have my key influences and sound, I haven’t quite figured it all out yet,” she says, confirming that most of the album will be recorded in-house at Funk Embassy’s headquarters and plush new recording facility, Selektor Studios, located in Telliskivi, the heart of Tallinn’s creative music hub.
And if the new song You Better Stop—a tantalising sneak peek Rita has been giving concert-goers—is any indication of the creative freedom at work, her sophisticated yet progressive take on vintage ’70s soul looks set to continue unrestrained.
“I really want to push myself further as a singer and producer,” says Rita, setting aside her now-empty coffee cup. “So, on my next album, I’ve decided to do something different.”
“Live in Concert”
is available to Buy Here.
Words by Dan Dodds | Comic Art by Longnose
All photo’s by Ako Lehemets unless noted
Originally Published on this site Jan 23rd, 2025