Poetica To Celebrate Album Release With Show At The Burren

SOMERVILLE, MA — Poetica, a new project of alt-folk-pop composer, producer, and poet Rachael Sage, will celebrate the release of their debut self-titled album and first single "Thanksgiving" with a concert at The Burren Back Patio on Sunday, September 12 at 3 p.m.

Poetica's album, which is set to be released on Friday, October 22 via MPress Records, is a full-blown, cinematic spoken word album that began as a remote collaboration between Sage and her Grammy-nominated cellist Dave Eggar during lockdown. Sage produced and engineered the project herself in isolation with simple equipment and other musicians, including David Krakauer, Gerry Leonard, Russ Johnson, Will Wilde, Kelly Halloran, Doug Yowell, and Quinn, contributed remotely from around the globe.

"I think overall the arch of the collection is one that reflects mourning, healing, and transformation, and also some of the social-political dynamics we have been experiencing during this time," said Sage. "It contains the whole personal journey I went on and also many of the other collaborators went on."

Calling to mind poets and musicians such as Leonard Cohen, Patti Smith, and Laurie Anderson, "Poetica" will feature 18 spoken-word pieces with musical arrangements that fuse elements of jazz, classical, and Appalachian folk. The pieces were chosen out over 200 poems written before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"There were a few pieces that reflect the challenge of trying to maintain intimacy and closeness in the middle of this kind of crisis, a pandemic, it's unprecedented," said Sage. "There's some of that really layered emotion."

"There are some other pieces I had actually written before [the pandemic], but Dave and I chose because they seemed to take on a new meaning," she continued. "And there are other pieces that are very hopeful and positive and committed to certain ideals, like the essence of what we believe, what is important to us, and what we strive to believe."

Sage said she is looking forward to returning to the Boston area, which she described as "a warm, beautiful city," and The Burren, which is one of her favorite venues.

"It's also very special and meaningful for me to come back to the larger Boston area because I had my cancer care in 2018 at Mass General Hospital and I had such an incredible team of doctors and nurses there who will all be invited, and my last gig at The Burren was my first show after that journey," she said.

At The Burren, Poetica will be playing tracks from their upcoming album, as well as songs from Sage's album "Character" that was released last year. They will be playing alongside musician Grace Pettis, who is celebrating the release of her new album, "Working Woman."

Tickets for Poetica's show at The Burren can be purchased here. For more information, contact the pub at 617-776-6896.