Mering has acknowledged that “God Turn Me into a Flower,” one of the album’s darker, more ambient tracks, is a reflection on the Narcissus myth, about a poor soul who falls in love with their own reflection in a shimmering pool. She sings delicately of “the curse of losing yourself when the mirror takes you too far.” The two tracks that make up the album’s title appear in reverse order, with the reverberating love song “Hearts Aglow” telling the story of a love who takes her on the ferris wheel on a pier overlooking “that black water down below/knowing I could fall if I let go.” It’s got a classic pop song melody almost as sweet as the cotton candy she sings about, as the strings swell, while “And In the Darkness” is a too brief 16-second instrumental that’s merely a few notes played on an upright double bass.
“It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody” opens the album, and is the record’s first single, a slower, brooding pop ballad that takes comfort in the idea that we’re “all a part of one big thing,” even though it often seems like we’re “sitting at a party/wondering if anybody knows me.” In the third verse she suggests that “mercy is the only/cure for being so lonely,” but again, the fact that “we all bleed the same way” offers little grace. She follows this with a brighter sounding melody with a classic 70’s piano pop formula a la Carole King right down to the finger snaps, but that can’t hide the fact that the “Children of the Empire” “know that they’re not free for long.” Both of these songs chime in near the 6 minute mark, twice the length of the standard pop single back in the day, and the later dissolves as the strings come undone.
“Grapevine” feels similar, this time built around a strummed folk guitar, telling the story of a relationship that was promising at first, but was little more than “two cars passing by”. “Twin Flame” plays with some light lounge percussion and a layer of strings for accents, while she sings of the cold left behind when her partner moves on, while “The Worst Is Done” returns to that 70’s pop feel again, an acoustic guitar holding the light rock rhythm in place, another sad story about a life wasted as “we sleptwalked through the years.” Mering has named her upcoming tour after the short instrumental “In Holy Flux,” which mixes ambient voices along the mystical sounding synths and strings, while the record closes with another traditional piano ballad, “A Given Thing”.
Brian Q. Newcomb
For more of Brian Q. Newcomb’s music reviews, check out The Fire Note
Other reviews you might enjoy:
- The Monster Who Hated Pennsylvania (Damien Jurado) – music review
- Entering Heaven Alive (Jack White) – music review
- Valentine (Snail Mail) – music review
The Fire Note started to create a simple place that could showcase records that we liked. Nothing more, nothing less. The focus has always been about the album and the experience that a great record creates. The Fire Note Webzine builds on this idea by offering an array of content that is all about the enjoyment of music, its pulse and energizing attitude.