In follow-up to her 2019 release Scorpio Moon, indie/Americana artist Sara Rachele (pronounced “ra-kelly”) is set to release her new album Scorpio Sun, on June 5, 2020. Whilst described as a sister album, sonically it’s far removed from the complexity of her previous offering, instead, delivering a stripped-back affair, she provides ample room for her lyrics to shine through.
Therein lies one of its jewels, those songs… captivating lyrics bolstered by her recent work ethic (a low-residency MFA in poetry at New York University). Needless to say, her delivery is equally poignant, raw and moving as can be heard on her new single Dead Squirrel in the Tractor Pool (also our Song of the Day), the first of her poems that she’s translated into music, on which she shares the following:
“Dead Squirrel…This song is an Ars Poetica to the music industry, for sure. I’ve been in shows since I was a kid, and sometimes it’s hard to know which way is up. Who are your friends? What does success look like? What is up, and what is down?
“When I first started playing music, professionally, it was 2007 and Grace Potter’s This Is Somewhere had just come out (my friend Mike Daly produced this — full disclosure), and ‘Falling or Flying’ was a song that I became obsessed with; I think it really foreshadowed (for me) how the industry can be, both personally and professionally. The Squirrel song is where I am now, as an adult in the music industry, and Grace really wasn’t wrong. It’s tough out there at every level of show biz. Money and merit and heart and gall, and it’s all still full of truth and fluff.
“Sometimes it’s hard to tell – like trying to survive an avalanche (experts say to spit, so you can tell which way is up). The industry has been a bit like that for me. Sometimes when you feel as light as air, you’re bound to fall, eventually. And often the things that look the best, really aren’t. This is a song about hard work. It’s about what I was brought up to do. Sure, it’s about drowning and how I accidentally set a trap for an unsuspecting critter in my Georgia garden… It’s also about my life, how it’s unfolding, and a song about the corporate meritocracy. As Grace says, ‘I guess we’ll never know, striking rock, or hitting gold.'”
Sara’s bio describes how the music scene has been such a large part of her life: She grew up a studio rat and folk child. Working for free, cleaning out the cupboards at famed Atlanta acoustic hotspot Eddie’s Attic, she met countless musicians and writers and fell into bands as a side player before she’d even written a song of her own.
Throughout her new album, she reflects on both the changing music industry “the destruction of traditional music and distribution platforms”, as well as reflecting on the personal journey of the artist “where inspiration for true art comes from and why it can sometimes dissipate”, as well as the darker side of the industry and the “abuse by those in power across the entertainment industry”. An album that deserves to be heard…
Bandcamp: https://sararachele.bandcamp.com/
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