Rachael Sage & The Sequins – Canopy
When I first heard Port Chester, NY’s Rachael Sage years ago (1996) I thought she was a talented independent artist who would last a little while, get frustrated & go back to a regular life as a music teacher. But then there’d be yet another album. I liked her persistence. She wasn’t going to give up. Each year, or so, something new appeared, & even the CD art improved. Maybe I should pay a little more attention to Ms. Sage. What she did was develop artistically.
Her new set tugs a listener’s ear to her well-written, varied collection of primarily ballads that aren’t just stories but an exercise in imagination. I was immediately taken by “Live It Up” & the expressive “Belong To You.” What a beautiful piece of music sung with all the sincerity of a spiritual. She made me cry.
14 musical pegs hold down Rachael’s Canopy (Drops Oct. 24/MPress Records/51:51) as produced by Ms. Sage with Mikhail Pivovarov (bass/bgv/claps) & recorded in CT & the Hudson Valley.
Rachael (vocals/electric & acoustic guitars/Wurlitzer/percussion/Glockenspiel) has released 15 full LPs in her 29-year career. I wonder why a major label hasn’t picked her up. She’s polished, creative, & diversified in her approach. She absorbed the influences of doo-wop, the Beatles, Broadway cast albums & sculptured a career as a sensitive, determined singer with style & class.
I thought she’d run out of gas. Instead, she unfolds the benevolent gentleness of “The Best Version,” with its glorious arrangement. She’s a major artist scraping by on her own & doing it. Her vocals are pristine; I always told musician friends every LP of original material should have one cover. It shows the ability to interpret another’s work. Rachael takes Buddy Holly & Norman Petty’s “Everyday” with a near-chamber music twist & makes it ingeniously pure.
With good phrasing, vocal texture & intonation, her music has depth, is focused & in many ways loose & playful, pop-shaded without being dipped in musical sugar. “Kill the Clock” cruises through with jazz fluidity & horns. The instrumental “Le Reve” is worthy of a theme for a film. Her “God Bless America” will capture young ears, & would make Irving Berlin proud.
I’m happy for Ms. Sage. She deserves the accolades. This is an artist worth savoring. Great album. One of the year’s best.
Highlights – “Just Enough,” “Canopy,” “Live It Up,” “Belong To You,” “The Best Version,” “Everyday,” (both versions) “Colorized World,” “Kill the Clock,” “Nexus,” “Le Reve,” & “God Bless America.”
Musicians – Andy Mac (drums/percussion/acoustic guitar), Kelly Halloran (violin/Wah violin/bgv), Dave Eggar (cello), David Krakauer (clarinet), Kerry Brooks (upright bass), Will Wilde (harmonica), James Maestro (electric & Resonator slide guitars), Jack Petruzzelli (electric & acoustic guitars), Russ Johnson (trumpet), Rob Curto (Hammond B3/accordion), Kevin J. Killen (electric & acoustic guitars/Hammond B3/bgv), Trina Hamlin (harmonica/bgv), Katie Marie (percussion), Annalyse & Ryan (bgv).
CD cover courtesy of Anna Azarov & Shervin Lainez. CD @ Bandcamp & https://rachaelsage.com/