‘No Way to Relax When You Are on Fire’ showcases Dora Jar’s ability to evolve as a songwriter, challenging her listeners to be flexible… a challenge they eagerly embrace.
Stream: ‘No Way to Relax When You Are on Fire’ – Dora Jar
The genre of pop is a spectrum.
And like any spectrum, it contains two opposite extremes. The first extreme is that of the uncreative. This pop music is often formulaic and, at worst, an example of corporate exploitation of art for the sake of “industry.” The second is that of the experimental. Think The Beatles and all that they inspired. Leave it to the most judgmental of music snobs to look down upon all pop music, despite the fact that most of it lies somewhere in the middle of these two extremes. To these people, I extend my deepest sympathy, given that they are missing out on some pretty great artists… Dora Jar being a prime example.
The moniker for Northern California-based singer/songwriter Dora Jarkowski, Dora Jar has been making waves in the indie pop scene since March of 2021, when she released her debut EP, 3 Songs. Within that year, she released a second 7 song EP, Digital Meadow, and a follow up single, “Scab Song,” which is how I first fell in love with her music. Since then, she has proven herself as not only a prolific writer, but an experimental artist and performer, opening for the likes of Billie Eilish and The Neighborhood. Her newest record, No Way to Relax When You Are on Fire (September 13, 2024 via Island Records), shows a level of growth and evolution in Jar’s style, despite technically being her debut full-length album.
The record gets off to a lovely start with “This Is Why,” an ethereal acoustic track with production credits by George Daniel (The 1975). This track highlights Jar’s ability to envelope her listeners into a world of swirling daydreams that feel reminiscent of one’s own childlike observations of nature and the world around us. With strummy guitars and mellotron flutes, the instrumentals of the song introduce us into the slightly more grounded feeling of the album’s production, compared to her previous work.
Rough water is still water
No matter how much it moves
Ripples in the afternoon
Who am I? Who are you?
“Timelapse” was one of my favorite singles that came out prior to the album release. This song succeeds in doing something that many songs have attempted to do over the course of music’s history: Capture the feeling of being a human in New York City (or the miniature Boston-version of the NYC experience, if you are me).
Wherever you live, I recommend listening to this song on your respective equivalent of The Subway. I’ve been listening to it on repeat while riding the T. The verses of the song feel busy and congested, with Jar delivering a spoken word, stream of consciousness series of thoughts, traveling her way through the city as she goes. The chorus, on the other hand, soars over the beat of the song, with Jar repeating the question, “Who am I?”
“Debbie Darling” feels more introspective as Dora Jar rediscovers a past version of herself that was more cynical and negative. Though I think it was a bit too early to introduce this song in the album’s tracklist order, I can’t help but adore its chord progression, which gives the song a slightly tipsy feeling that I haven’t really heard since Harry Nilsson. Actually, much of this album led me to make comparisons between Dora Jar and Harry Nilsson. Both artists are able to combine the serious and goofy sides of their sound with effortless mastery. And both artists have been credited with having a major influence on their more well-known peers.
It is easy to lose yourself in “Ragdoll.” The song takes its listener on an unexpected journey that would be difficult to anticipate without having previously heard the track. If you open yourself up to the song’s twists and turns, you will likely come out of it feeling somewhat like a ragdoll yourself. This leads perfectly into the album’s most left-of-field track, “Smoke Out the Window.” I’d rather not give a musical “spoiler alert” in describing the song to you before you have heard it. But I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed the surprise of its presence on the album, and hope you do as well.
“Cannonball” reminds me of the Medieval Folk Rock popularized in the ’60s and ’70s. It is right up my alley and draws to mind images of rolling hills and foggy mornings. It is songs like this that make me want to ignore social constructs and go dance around in a field somewhere far away from my current city setting. The production on this song was done by Dora Jar, Rostam Batmanglij (founding member of Vampire Weekend), and Ralph Castelli. The trio truly knocked it out of the park.
The song I’ve been playing on repeat the most is probably the title track, “No Way to Relax When You Are on Fire.” The verse melody weeps a story of an imagined romantic exchange at a party. This one is definitely for the girls who can build up moments in their head before those moments have given a hint of actually happening. I’m hooked on the lines “I heard about you from the girls in the bathroom” and “I heard about you crashing the party.” I’m not sure why exactly, except that I can picture it and I suppose I know the feeling.
I heard about you
from the girls in the bathroom
You’re a ketamine angel,
starry night swirling us together
I think we might kiss in my imagination
On the fire escape,
New Years is never this fun anyway
“She Loves Me,” “Puppet,” and “Behind The Curtain” were among the songs released as singles prior to the album’s release. “She Loves Me” has both some of my favorite lyrics and the biggest earworm of a chorus melody that I’ve ever heard. “Puppet” will be an amazing song live. Jar released a video of herself performing the track live from Madison Square Garden; you can tell the lyric “No smoke d-d-d-detector in the venue, are you afraid to die?” was clearly written to send a wave of excitement into the crowd… and it’s working. “Behind the Curtain” has yet to grow on me the way the rest of them have, but I am sure that it will soon, given that Jar herself wrote it. Can you tell that I am a fan?
She’s everything I wanted to be
She always shows up haunted
In a nightgown, looking like
a crumpled napkin
Frozen like a snowy mountain
And I don’t think I love her, but she loves me
“Sometimes All Ways” is my favorite of the newest batch of songs, released for the first time with the whole album. The edited string arrangement adds a level of electricity to the song, while keeping it grounded with an acoustic feel. The lyrics of this song feel quintessentially Dora Jar as she sings, “Tie me to the rain, chain me to the lightning, drop me in the sky, I might fall.” I also love the reintroduction of the mellotron flutes and the line “Sometimes the girls get high in the night, sometimes.” Jar has a way of combining elements of modernity with nostalgia and natural imagery, all while putting her own special creative twist on things. This song exemplifies this lyrical talent quite well.
“Devil Eye” and “Holy Water” feel a bit like bonus tracks in that they invite the listener to take a seat and peer more deeply into Dora Jar’s writing. It is tracks like these that creep up on a listener… you don’t expect it, but after a few listens through the album, they start to become your favorite.
Going into the album, I was already a massive fan of Dora Jar. So maybe it was easier, in a way, to win me over.
But I was also very attached to her previous work and this album feels like something of a departure. The tracks are still fun and, at times, goofy, but there is a sense of introspection that dives more deeply inward than many of her older songs. It is exciting as a listener to be challenged by an artist. From the beginning, Dora Jar has challenged us to open ourselves to twists and turns, to musical evolution and experimentation.
For this reason, she may not be for everyone, but she also provides something of a musical playground for those of us who love and have a genuine passion for the genre of pop! I believe that pop at its best is simply fun. And right now, I think Dora Jar is one of the best in the game.
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Watch: “She Loves Me” – Dora Jar
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© Haley Appell
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