Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, Katharine Mcphee, Rachael Sage? While she may not be a household name, Rachael Sage is flying under the radar with music that can best be described as folksy pop with a razor sharp wit, sometimes hidden beneath deceptively bouncy melodies.

On her latest effort, "The Blistering Sun," Sage sings of unrequited love, truth, lies, and self-fulfillment. On "Lonely Streets," (a song on the album) Sage's vocals writhe and wriggle with pain over a regretful affair, singing, "You were the fun I should have done without." On another track, "Older," she brings to mind Sarah Mclachlan, though her vocals are less soporific and more dream-like. All the same it's pretty, with a hook that is catchy, if not radio ready. But with Sage, radio play is not the point, rather her lack of air play hits closer to home. She defies the logic of anything in heavy rotation on MTV, even the more adult contemporary fare of VH1. But this is what makes Rachael Sage interesting. Could anyone ever picture any of the artists currently on the aforementioned video channels singing songs like the ironically titled, "Hit Song" in which Sage croons about medusa or "the torrential and tempestuous net of success"? Perhaps someone like the alluring Regina Spektor, but there are not many.

Elsewhere on this disc, "Featherwoman" utilizes gliding vocal arrangements that send the listener floating into the stratosphere, while the song's sincere lyrical content anchor you back down to earth. Sage sings, "I know the bottle is expensive and I wanna be intense enough to fill it up." However Rachael is at her best with songs like "Proof" and "Anything Anywhere" in which she quietly professes her love, simply yet profoundly.

"The Blistering Sun" is an artistic experiment; clever and bubbling with virtuosity. Rachael Sage is one to watch, with an album that, from a male point of view embodies the essence of femininity and reads like a diary, begging to be read aloud. This is not for everyone, and frankly not even my type of music typically, but give this one a second listen, because you might not appreciate it as much the first time around, but by take two you'll start to see the magic.