Customer Reviews

Walls Ablaze

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I first explored the realm of Sarah Dougher after being more-than-impressed with her work in Cadallaca and The Crabs. Sarah's voice is unusually strong, clear, beautiful, and distinctive, and I was eager to hear more.

I enjoyed her solo release _Day One_ immensely, falling in love with her lyrical skill, melodic grace, and intimate production, and could hardly wait to hear more! Indeed, The Walls Ablaze offers more of what hooked me, and actually sounding better, if possible! Her songs on both alnums are centered on her vocals, piano, and guitar, with percussion provided mostly by Jon Reuter and, on a few tracks, Janet Weiss of Quasi and Sleater-Kinney.

Despite Dougher's dabbling in various other projects, her solo work is unique and all her own. My favorite songs are her more upbeat songs, such as Mirror/Shield, which should be regarded as a folk-punk-pop classic, but her range is exquisite, from the thoughtful and hushed opener to "The New Carissa," with gracefully gliding masterpieces like "No-Handed" in between, along with the soulful "What's Good is Better than Gone," written by Reuter.

Overall, The Walls Ablaze is a strong, intelligent, and delightful album that only builds upon her impressive debut.

Dougher's second solo album is the kind of achy singer-songwriter record that only a rock 'n' roller would make.

The Walls Ablaze sounds like Dougher (the keyboardist for Cadallaca and the Crabs) thought the world had too many timid songs about isolation, gender confusion and a loved one's self-destruction. Her solution is to give the guitar player some and sing loud. Her wide-mouthed, declaratory tone is the kind that doesn't travel well outside rock, but her voice isn't the point. More than a Tori Amos or Shelby Lynne, whose voices are the whole show, Dougher is just trying to lift her lyrics off the page.

Given her penchant for objectivity and sometimes obscurity, Dougher's earnestness may be how she reminds herself she's singing for a person, not a notebook. And once you get to know the songs, you realize how much there is to reveal in the lyrics' odd angles. When Dougher expresses her sense of loss to the shattered recluse at the heart of the album, she uses a simple shift of perspective: "Every single day, I think of you in the old way / The new ways come around." It's a gracious way to engage the listener in what could have been one more open letter to a third party.

As you'd expect, it's an intimate album. But backed by Jon Reuter's supple indie-pop guitar and Dougher's own piano, that means not cloying but inviting, much like Dougher's other solo album, the sunny (if unfocused) Day One. Most of the hooks here are put to work -- when they're not fun, like Janet Weiss' wheezing harmonica and drums in "No-Handed," they're heartbreaking ("The Match," which closes the album the same way it opens, with the house burning down).

And round about the fifth listen, big is the only way you'd have Dougher sing.