This Christmas, prepare for something completely different. Rachael Sage, known as an alt-folk artist who always does things her own way, has now branched out into the world of jazz and spoken word, so much so that she needed a new name. Ladies and Gentlemen, presenting: POETICA.
With its roots planted firmly in experimental and boundary-pushing genres, Poetica consistently calls to mind artists such as Laurie Anderson, Leonard Cohen and Patti Smith. It began as a long time lockdown project between Rachael Sage and cellist Dave Eggar, but quickly progressed far beyond something made just to pass the time. The cinematic spoken word album is full of beautiful and heartfelt words which are delivered with effortless intimacy. Neobeat, neoclassical, spoken word, jazz – all these genres collide together to give Poetica a stately sort of weight as a product of creative minds working together to overcome physical barriers and distance.
It’s impressive just how collaborative the album has ended up sounding, considering that all the artists worked on the project remotely. When it comes to inspiration and creativity, however, Rachael Sage found no barriers between her and the words.
“Writing song lyrics is very different for me than writing poems,” says Rachael Sage. “Poems come from a much more subconscious, mysterious place that I would almost describe as a kind of soul-searching. It’s a very spiritual process for me and I usually learn something after the fact, once each poem is written. I’ve been really enjoying the absence of any kind of song structure while creating these arrangements, and I also greatly credit Dave Eggar for supporting this vision, and my writing, unequivocally.”
What do you think of Poetica? One for the NYE party playlists – yay or nay?
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