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Nov 23, 2021 By Caleb Campbell

Poetica is the latest project from alt folk composer, producer, poet, and singer/songwriter Rachael Sage. Pulling from spoken-word touchstones like Leonard Cohen, Patti Smith, and Laurie Anderson, Poetica’s self-titled debut plays at the edges of genres and song structures, moving effortlessly between folk, jazz, and classical influences. Working with her longtime cellist Dave Eggar, along with a host of other collaborators, Sage crafted an expansive poetic odyssey. Today she’s back with the video for one of the album’s highlights, “Unconditional,” premiering with Under the Radar.

The song itself puts the powerful resonance of Sage’s poetry on full display, with Sage bringing together her voice and instrumentation in an otherworldly marriage of wisdom and beauty. Soft percussive claps and humming provide the track’s strongest melodic throughline, while the swelling strings and trumpets add some bursts of jazzy color. All the while, Sage’s poetry reflects on freedom and resurrection, finding hope in times of darkness. Befitting the song, “Unconditional’s” video is a work of soft, melancholic beauty, accompanying Sage’s poetry with intimate close-ups and meditative imagery.

As Sage describes, “Making ‘Unconditional’ was a pretty revelatory experience, in a number of ways – including the fact that it was my first in-person video collaboration after the pandemic began. It took several months of planning to do a relatively simple one-day shoot, because when I first brought my ideas to director Nick Clark, the world was still very much in lockdown. I had a very clear vision of the ethereal, romantic imagery I wanted us to capture, and had already art directed the still life imagery for the Poetica album artwork, myself…but I hadn’t worked indoors with anyone until the actual day of the video shoot, so that was pretty exciting!

Conceptually, my goal was to create a meditative, beautiful but melancholic piece that would transport the viewer to the same surrealistic place we were all in while creating Poetica. Evidence of love, of collected memories and symbols of connectedness juxtaposed against the isolation of one individual alone with all of these objects. What does our favorite ‘stuff’ mean, to which we cling, if anything? What do we keep sacred or let go of in times of duress? How do we self-soothe when we are alone with our own dreams for the future, while sifting through the relics of our past, and most importantly: how do we create beauty even in times of seemingly complete darkness? These were all questions I wanted to explore creatively, making this video.

It was so joyful to shoot in my newly adopted hometown of Beacon, New York, against the beautiful creek and lush greenery. I hope that when people watch this video they’re reminded of just how resourceful and creative each of us can be, and of how love endows any environment with a kind of magic that comprises hope.”

Check out the song and video below. Poetica’s self-titled debut album is out now.