Artist Rachael Sage works with Vision Aid Overseas to release new album, PseudoMyopia
BY DIVA STAFF
Singer-songwriter Rachael Sage has teamed up with Vision Aid Overseas to release a stripped-back version of her critically-acclaimed album Myopia. Re-workings of the songs from that album come together to form her new work, PseudoMyopia.
The album title comes from a condition more commonly known as short-sightedness, and is an issue very close to Sage’s heart – the singer is registered legally blind without glasses or contact lenses.
This new collaboration, PseudoMyopia, will provide eye tests and free glasses to low- and mid-income countries, by releasing new, dreamy, acoustic versions of her previously released tracks. Though Sage’s music may be dreamy, however, she’s keeping her feet firmly on the ground.
The melding of music with real-life issues is handled with maturity and wisdom, as Sage continues adding depths to her new release by exploring the concept of vision, narrow-mindedness, and in every sense, storytelling. The album cover, for instance, is immediately striking, consisting of lots of drawings of eyes in different colours and styles.
The song Spark explores the depths of this idea of vision as Sage sings, “It’s always easy to be open with a stranger”, exploring and challenging the idea of how preconceptions hold us back from reaching our full potential.
It’s a unique and exciting new subject matter the likes of which have rarely been explored in popular music before, and the new acoustic version of this already heartfelt song makes Rachael Sage appear all the more vulnerable and, consequently, brave.
This is a motif we see again and again throughout the album as Sage encourages us to open our minds, let go of prejudices and preconceptions and be comfortable in our own vulnerabilities. The fragility of the human condition was always explored in the lyrics to these songs but now we see it reflected in the instrumentation for the first time.
These arrangements allow Sage’s voice to stand out as she is supported simply by a guitar, strings and piano. Timbres are explored in songs such as Olivia, which makes use of staccato picking on the strings and fiddle, complimenting the song’s darker feel.
“You are the sun and moon / You are the only person I can my secrets to,” sings Sage in her tale of a person who is uncomfortably closed off from the rest of the world.
On this new album, title track Myopia is reworked into an emotionally charged ballad. Accompanied by finger-clicking, tambourine and building to a dramatic finale, as well as a frank discussion of fear, pain and healing, this promises to be the tearjerker of Sage’s upcoming tour dates.
Check out these fantastically honest and poignant songs on all major streaming sites now. #PseudoMyopia
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