Rachael Sage
(Mpress)
There are more slashes in Rachael Sage’s job description than you’ll find in a Wes Craven triple feature. Sage is a former dancer and singer/songwriter who founded her own record label, plays a dazzling array of keyboards, designs her own cover art and uses her acting experience to add drama to her musical presentation, and that’s not the half of it. Sage’s latest release, Chandelier, is simply more of the New Yorker’s standard best; an intimate folk presence that references Joni Mitchell (“Blue Light”) and Kate Bush (“My Word”), a pop sense that Jill Sobule (“Invincible”) would envy and a jazzy streak that hints at a summit jam between Rickie Lee Jones and Shawn Colvin (“Moonlight & Fireflies”). And although Chandelier is filled to overflowing with Sage’s crystalline brilliance in writing, singing and performing, the album’s heartbreaking centerpiece is “Mexico,” her impassioned cover of Jump Little Children’s end-of-relationship ode.
Standout Tracks: “Mexico,” “Invincible” BRIAN BAKER
