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|| DECRyPTED presents...
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|. :| _artist......: Rachael Sage
: || _album.......: Haunted By You
: |: _year........: 2012
. | _genre.......: Rock
. | _style.......: Pop Rock, Vocal, Acoustic
: _label.......: Mpress
. _cat.nr......: MP0903-2
_source......: CDDA
_quality.....: avg. 224kbps / 44.1kHz
_encoder.....: .mp3 lame 3.98.4 vbr -v0 (except WEB)
_tracks......: 15
_size........: 100.40MB
_length......: 62:25
_proof.......: Yes [x] / No [ ]
_url.........: rachaelsage.com
_tracklist...:
01. Invisible Light 04:08
02. Abby Would You Wait 03:34
03. California 03:33
04. The Sequin Song 04:01
05. Performance Art 03:54
06. Everything 04:28
07. Ready 05:11
08. Haunted By You 04:31
09. Birthday 03:50
10. Hey Nah 03:30
11. Confession 04:39
12. Soulstice 05:12
13. Invisible Light (Reprise) 04:26
14. Abby Would You Wait (Acoustic) 03:33
15. Performance Art (Acoustic) 03:55
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62:25 min
_description.: Rachael Sage is not your run of the mill June/moon
singer/ songwriter. You hear a line like "today is the
first day of the rest of my..." and, if you're
expecting the clichΘ, forget it, not going to happen.
Sage is a poet. The ordinary image is not where she's
going. For her ideas and emotions, she needs
"bittersweet Swarovski," "a big old purple sequin...
tearing up" her art, "one speck of mica shining on the
ground." In a lover's touch she hears the "Song of
Solomon. She searches for meaning in a "dead sea of
ill-fated dreaming." Without love you're "one mitten in
Grand Central's lost and found."
Luckily, Sage's latest album Haunted by You comes
complete with a full set of lyrics for the 12 original
songs. You'll want them. Listening won't be enough;
you'll want them in front of you to ponder while you
listen and think about long after. Not that there's
anything wrong with the music: she has created a
passionate song cycle that plumbs the emotional depths
of love found and love lost. "I fell recklessly in and
out of love multiple times while writing this record,"
she explains on her website. "I broke a couple
hearts.and I also had my heart broken pretty badly."
Broken hearts have long been the stuff of pop music;
Sage's gift, and she has one, is to take "what oft was
thought," as one poet past has put it, "but ne'er so
well expressed."
Whether she's indulging in the kind of arcane allusions
and metaphors reminiscent of the Metaphysical Poets-a
lover's touch is a "Kabbalistic mystery," she can't be
"the only Catherine wheel," or looking at love with a
grittier eye-"I'm not just a girl you held one night in
an Austin motel," there is an emotional honesty in her
music that comes through clearly in her vocals. She is
able to sell lyrics that might come across to some as
esoteric or academic as expressions of sincere
feelings. She can be vulnerable; she can be strong. She
has her moments, at times hopeful, at times bleak, but
always sung with truthful sensitivity. Always open
about her own sexuality, some of the songs state it
explicitly "Confession," "Abby Would You Wait;" most
are generic expressions applicable to both sexes.
The album opens and closes with the paradoxically
titled "Invisible Light," which highlights the desire
for someone who really understands her. She calls it
her favorite song on the album and points out how
different the arrangements are. Dar Williams, Seth
Glier, and Joshua Leonard contribute background vocals
on the reprise track. She says that "Abby Would You
Wait" is about a long conversation shared one night
after a show. Like "Invisible Light," it seems to be
looking for that special understanding that binds two
people. The cleverly titled "Soulstice" captures a
moment of joy in passion, and the resignation that
comes with the understanding that it is fleeting:
"Can't we just agree that I love you and call it a
night." She is joined on the track by Kelly Halloran on
violin, Jack Petruzelli on guitar, and David Immergluck
on mandolin.
Her own band The Sequins consists of Quinn (drums and
percussion), Russ Johnson (trumpet and flugelhorn), and
Dave Eggar (cello). Sage plays piano, wurlitzer,
rhodes, harmonium, percussion and acoustic guitar.
"Haunted by You," the title song is one of a string of
bleak laments on unrequited love, including
"California," "The Sequin Song" (a metaphoric tour de
force), and the truly black "Performance Art." In
"Confession," on the other hand, she takes the blame
for love's failure on herself: "I took you for granted
every day of my life." Contrast these with the artist's
more hopeful expressions: "Everything," for example,
where "faith has a way of giving you what you need,"
and "Hey Nah," where she has "elected to be happy all"
her days. "Birthday," while keeping to the cycle's
central themes manages to throw in a little shout out
the singer's Jewish roots, an indulgence she seems to
relish both on the stage and on her website.
2013.04.28
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Get the original - we did.