Klein Zage
Klein Zage, real name Sage Redman, originally hails from Seattle, a place embedded with a rich history of punk and grunge. When she moved to London in 2011, Sage was introduced to Trip Hop, Grime and UKG as electronic music began to capture her imagination. Since 2019, she has lived in New York. This change of scenery has been key to her musical process and writing style.
Her production nods to the 80s and 90s house and techno scene, and interweaves spoken social commentaries that are distinctly modern in their preoccupations. She uses her voice and lyrical expertise as one of the driving instruments in her songs, affording her the gift of boundless expression.
On her debut EP, ‘Womanhood’ (released on her own label, Orphan) Sage’s narrative style turns to the subject of femininity. One that is charcterised by themes of nihilism, pleasure, empowerment and patriarchy all at once. Her words are delivered alongside instrumentals in the form of eerie late night techno, to euphoric house and UKG.
2020 saw the release of her second project, ‘Tip Me Baby One More Time’. Sage speaks about her warm experiences in the New York metropolis, and the performative nature of working in hospitality. These songs can be looked at as lamentations and celebrations simultaneously. Her fond images of urban life are accompanied by old school techno and house beats as New York itself is figured by the music.
No matter the nature of Klein Zage’s musical output, she enacts complete control over her own artistic direction. Which is something that has informed the latest metamorphosis of her career. Following her addition to Rhythm Section’s Shouts Compilation in 2021, her full length album ‘Feed the Dog’ will be released on the label in late 2022.
Broken free of the limitations of genre, Sage’s latest project explores new ground entirely, enacting a radical transformation of the Klein Zage sound we’ve got to know since her first release. But, even though her new project sounds like a departure, this is the music she’s always been making.
Her role as a vocalist has moved to its natural place in her music and the production around her includes rich and varied live instrumentation. She has enlisted the help of long term collaborator and Orphan records partner, Joe Gillick (aka Joey G ii). The South West London native was key to the production and writing of the record.
Written in a combination of Seattle, a remote Washington fjord called Hood Canal, and London, the songs lean from synth heavy dream pop, to ambient left field experimentations bursting with kinetic energy and haunting beauty throughout. This project sees Sage at her most lyrically profound and emotionally vulnerable as she sings about love, the self, absence and friendship. Again Klein Zage has redefined her image as an artist.