By Sarah Jarosz’s POLAROID LOVERS is our pick for a solo, extended installment of Bandcamp Picks of the Week!
Sarah Jarosz – POLAROID LOVERS
Genre: Folk, Singer-Songwriter
Favorite tracks: “Jealous Moon,” “Runaway Train,” “The Way It Is Now”
The concept of selling out might seem foreign to Zoomers, not clued into the minutiae of the music industry. But it’s long been a driving force for what makes or breaks taste according to snobs. Selling out was at its most ubiquitous in the 1990s when Grunge bands like Nirvana blew up with the masses and punk acts like Green Day signed to major labels. What’s not talked about as much was the parallel phenomena happening in country music. Garth Brooks flying in on a high wire like he was some hair metal superstar, Shania Twain baring the midriff and selling a cotton-gloss pastiche of country music to the mainstream. This was an era when country music suffered one of its many identity crises, and why the genre is so fractured today. So it is that we come to Sarah Jarosz’s POLAROID LOVERS, an album that if it were released in 1999, would be mauled by the gatekeepers for daring to go pop. Considering just what sphere of music the four-time Grammy winner comes from (that of the folk, bluegrass, and Americana umbrella), the transition from her last record, BLUE HERON, to this album is rather jarring, yet also exhilarating.
Jarosz is no stranger to electric instrumentation. Songs like “Mile On the Moon,” from 2013’s BUILD ME UP BONES, and “Comin’ Undone”—off of UNDERCURRENT—are proof that she’s not a purist by any means. Yet these elements of modernity are used sparingly. All they do is provide the tracks some different textures to differentiate them from her predominantly acoustic body of work. In the eyes of traditionalists, Jarosz’s implementation of B3 organ, pedal steel, and electric guitar would be considered tasteful. The way these instruments are utilized on opening number “Jealous Moon,” however, would have her branded a heretic by these fogies and gatekeepers. The sheer propulsion of the track, from its pulsating rhythm to the grit of its central guitar riff, is enough to inform listeners that the song is entrenched in the world of rock and roll. And while some of her country forebears have not handled that transition with grace, Jarosz doesn’t fumble the ball. She catches it and runs it all the way down to the end zone. “When the Lights Go Out” might come across as a shameless synthpop pastiche (a la Paramore’s “Forgiveness”), but its sense of euphoria elevates the track, especially during the double-tracked chorus. “Runaway Train” finds the artist going all in on Tom Petty-style rock while reminiscing about a blossoming romance. And “Mezcal and Lime” closes everything with some soothing synth ambience in spots to give the song a serene, underwater quality.
Though the opening sequence of songs suggest a complete separation from her previous works, Jarosz makes it clear on the middle chunk of the LP that she is still at home atop more stripped-down folk stylings. “Columbus & 89th” would feel right at home on any of Jarosz’s past albums with its prominent use of octave mandolin, yet the bittersweet nostalgia for a place long departed (informed by Jarosz’s actual relocation to Nashville) bestows a sense of maturity that a 20-year-old Jarosz couldn’t have articulated on FOLLOW ME DOWN. Similarly, there’s a sense of elegance to the detached despondency on “Don’t Break Down on Me,” wherein the song’s narrator compares her relationship to a faltering car. A younger lyricist would likely have delivered histrionics about the fizzling romance, but Jarosz delivers the song with a sense of dispassion, already aware of the outcome. The way she’s able to understand and convey these emotional lows is what makes the highs of “Runaway Train” and “Mezcal and Lime” that much more potent.
By all accounts, POLAROID LOVERS is a revolutionary step forward for Sarah Jarosz, a snapshot of not just past romances, but an examination of love in its many forms. It is a work of art that traverses space, time, perspective, and multiple musical styles with confidence and grace. Yet for some fans, they will only see a compromised effort, an unnecessary deviation from the tried and true formula. In their eyes, POLAROID LOVERS harkens back to the outdated idea of selling out. Perhaps it is akin to selling out. Or perhaps, Jarosz has stumbled upon her 1965 Newport Folk Festival/BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME, a definitive turning point that will look tame in comparison to what’s to come. If this is the case, let the fogies simmer and snob. We look forward to Jarosz’s HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED. Snag it on Bandcamp.
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