Artist: Rachael Sage
Hometown: Hudson Valley, New York
Album: The Other Side
Release Date: July 21, 2023
Label: MPress Records
In Their Words: βThe Other Side is my 15th album and yet, in some ways, it felt like I was starting all over again with this particular collection of songs and recordings. After we were all emerging from lockdown, I noticed there was such an intense awareness that nothing would ever be quite the same, but nor should it be. As a songwriter, how do you chronicle a time of so much loss, but also so much gratitude β just to still be able to live, anticipating all that you will see, do, and experience once youβre able to move freely, beyond a time of immediate crisis?
“My goal in creating this record was to channel a kind of zealousness and to transcend limitations, which we had all largely become accustomed during the pandemic β and, in so doing, to reignite hope. How does music and creative expression in general help us get back to the business of living, with renewed joy, courage, appreciation and even idealism? The dozen originals on the album all circle the theme of transcendence in some way, as do the handful of covers I selected. Yearning, forgiveness, breathing itself β only human beings can thoroughly understand the miracle it is to do all of these with reverence and uplift, after enduring trauma. I hope when people listen they hear not only my voice, but the echoes of refrains so many of us clung to over the last several years: Hopes and imaginings that kept us going, and family and friends, who we were reminded the hard way are the most precious legacy anyone can create in this lifetime.β β Rachael Sage
Photo Credit: Bill Bernstein
