Rachael Sage’s “I Made a Case” has understated ambitions. The single’s final impact on listeners, however, is substantial. The Nashville songwriter’s autobiographical inclinations collide with modeling the track, at least in spirit, on a retro style harkening back to the 1970s for its inspiration. The song’s ultimate success, however, depends on the inspired pairing of Sage’s voice with guest duet partner English singer Howard Jones.
Jones retains his immense talent for coupling intelligent phrasing with his idiosyncratic yet classic pop delivery. His contributions are well suited for a track where one of Sage’s avowed intents is balancing the emotional truth of the song’s message alongside its high pop ambitions. This ballad about love that never lands at the right time sparkles in large part thanks to its plaintive plainspoken poetry. Sage and her co-writer Jeff Cohen understand that “I Made a Case” doesn’t need pseudo-poetic flourishes of sound and fury signifying nothing. Sage, instead, depicts the desolation of seeing a lifetime love, in the open at last, slip away.
Tobias LaMontagne’s direction and the additional footage courtesy of Mikhail Pivovarov come together for an outstanding accompanying video. The muted colors, thoughtful editing, and Pivovarov’s performance clips in particular shine and provide listeners with a much different experience of the song. The video stands on its own as a vivid visual experience.
There’s a bounty of superb musical performances comprising the substance of the song. Sage’s piano playing underlines her melodic skills and Dave Eggar’s cello supplies transformative passages throughout the cut. Rob Curto and Russ Johnson serve similar roles with their contributions on accordion and trumpet, respectively. Kelly Halloran delivers with violin and Kevin J. Killen’s organ imbues the arrangement with a crucial splash of color. Opting for an upright bass sound for the song rather than the customary electric counterpart is another intelligent touch distinguishing “I Made a Case” from many contemporaries and peers.
However, it never clutters the single’s sound. Polished and attentive producing is the reason and Sage largely plays it straight with minimal post-production work. She’s aiming for unvarnished vulnerability with this track, there’s no question of that, and weighing the songwriting down with extraneous theatrics would lessen its impact. Sage clearly understands this, but it’s an even more impressive measure of her gifts that she sharpens the track’s effectiveness to such a sharp edge.
“I Made a Case” cuts deep. In the hands of a lesser talent, the song likely sinks under the weight of melodrama and leans more on studio gimmickry or overblown arrangements. Rachael Sage, however, offers her audience a performance that sounds like she’s ripping it from the pages of her autobiography and enjoys profound chemistry with one of the biggest names in English pop music since the 1980s.
It’s written and performed with widespread audience appeal in mind. Sage deserves major kudos for pulling that off without ever pandering to listeners. It doesn’t matter, in the end, if the song’s subject is something she’s personally experienced. She makes you believe and feel, and that’s a great song by any reasonable standard.
Garth Thomas