Simplicity in Profundity

Solo artist A. Savage graced the alternative world with his second project, Several Songs About Fire earlier this month. The album consists of many reminiscent sentiments and memories that connect with the most empathetic of listeners and leave a lasting impact on those who ponder life itself.

Savage very clearly has a knack for writing lyrics, given that the ten tracks on Several Songs About Fire could be read as poetry and would still hit their emotional mark. It almost seems as if the words were the focus and the notes came as an afterthought, it would give that impression outright if it weren’t for the beautiful instrumentation throughout the project, more on that later. Savage has a way of sculpting a memory with words in such vivid detail and with such effervescent language that the memories end up belonging to the listener. The lyrics themselves can often be incredibly profound, even from the first moments of the album when Savage states “why am I programmed to feel like I do? Tell me master, am I broken? Wasn’t I built by you?” in the opening track “Hurtin’ or Healed.” However, the music as a whole tends to be fairly simple, taking from the roots of folk and country music, thriving off of simple chord progressions and real emotions. Through lots of introspection, Savage covers topics of living off of paychecks and paying rent, the passage of time, the love and death of friends and family. The reflective nature of the lyrics to channel real emotion is so potent that it even takes the form of a breakage of the fourth wall in “Mountain Time,” where Savage addresses the crowd at a bar and references the album itself.

Although the lyrical content takes center stage in Several Songs About Fire, Savage surrounds the words with a litany of appropriate atmospheres, and uses specific instrumentation to achieve this. Although each track could certainly be distilled down to just a voice and an acoustic guitar, certain tracks are given a charm by the other sounds that are present. Take the halfway track “Riding Cobbles” as an example; without its syncopated sporadic rhythms and inclusion of short-plucked guitars, possibly ukuleles and castanets, the track just wouldn’t have the same charm or forward motion. Then you move to the next track and the complexity vanishes into thin air, leaving you with only a warm electric guitar being arpeggiated to “Mountain Time.” The real achievement is knowing where and when certain sounds are needed and how to use them to provoke certain emotions, which it seems like Savage has become very well acquainted with how to do so.