Sage wisdom: Rachael Sage knows how to flavor her music with real-life experiences, like her Conservative Jewish faith and crushes gone wrong.

Out singer and songwriter Rachael Sage thinks of her albums in terms of colors--even if those colors haven't always accurately represented what was going on in her head and in her life. "Even though my last album was pink, I was a little bit blue while making it," she admits. Fortunately, Rachael found herself painting a sonically diverse, multihued rainbow with her melodic seventh album, The Blistering Sun (MPress Records).

"It's the most multicolored and really reflective of my personality," Rachael insists. "Anyone who knows me well knows I'm a different person every day--a little bit schizo. And that's an aspect of myself I haven't really reflected yet on a record." The varied hues of Blistering Sun include a perky Tori Amos--esque cut ("Alright, OK"), earthy pop ("Featherwoman"), and alien beat-poet jazz ("Hit Song"). Then there's the passionate, accordion-steeped "93 Maidens," based on the poetic letters of Chaya Feldman, a Jewish teenager in Warsaw who drank poison rather than be captured by the Nazis. Rachael first recorded this track 10 years ago after discovering Feldman's writing in a High Holidays prayer book.

"I was bored during the rabbi's sermon and started reading the back of the prayer book," she recalls. "It was so moving, I think I wrote the song that same day when I got home."

Born and raised in Greenwich, Conn., Rachael garnered some of her first musical experience at synagogue, accompanying the canter with her synthesizer. After a flirtation with ballet at the School of American Ballet, she majored in drama at Stanford University but later returned to the East to live in Manhattan. One of her biggest musical breaks transpired after mailing idol Ani DiFranco an elaborate, candid fan latter and a song she recorded as tribute ("Sistersong"). Impressed by Rachael's sentiments and music, DiFranco invited her along on tour as an opening act. Lilith Fair and Rockrgrl appearances, a handful of songwriting awards (including Outmusic and ASCAP), and endless gigs followed.

Rachael empowered herself in 1996 by founding MPress Records, whose recent compilation New Arrivals: Volume 1 benefits Gulf Coast hurricane-relief efforts and features tracks by Girlyman, Jill Sobule, and over a dozen emerging artists. She also used her music to publicly come out: "Cyanide and Cinnamon," a female pronoun--specific love song, opens her third album, Painting of a Painting. "At the time I was out and my family knew, but I had trepidation about putting that song first," she recalls. "Even though it was one of my favorites, there were still lingering 'Will mom be mad?' concerns. But she was cool."

Rachael admits that her experiences in queer love have fueled her songwriting. Even a recent gig as performer on an Olivia cruise provided her with grist for the mill. "I had a big crush on someone, and it didn't really pan out," she recalls, laughing. "But I got a lot of lyrics out of it."