Dizzy Face Mortality Head-On With New Album “The Sun and Her Scorch”
“The Sun and Her Scorch is a collection of anthems for tying up loose ends while walking through different doorways”.
9/10
The illusion of self-confidence and success is an omnipresent force that can take on many different shapes. The proverbial greener grass is always growing around everyone else, and it can feel exceptionally prevalent as people progress through their mid-twenties; an age where some are settling into a family life with babies and houses, and others are still navigating their way through seemingly endless options.
“I’ve often felt jealous of friends who’ve taken more traditional paths in life. Some have gone to university and have 9-to-5 jobs already and have to buy funny things like lawnmowers and cutlery. I know that sounds silly, but I have a real fear I’ll never own a home or be able to support a family because of the decision I’ve made, so of course that’s scary. I think I’ve quit the band a dozen times since we started and then wind up taking it back an hour later because I know it’s just fear talking,” shares Dizzy frontwoman Katie Munshaw.
Despite Dizzy’s 2019 JUNO award for ‘Alternative Album of the Year’ with their debut Baby Teeth, the fear and insecurity of struggling to find happiness is the driving force behind their new album The Sun and Her Scorch. The “self-heartbreak”, as Munshaw calls it, fuels the album, dealing with jealousy, relationship tension, and most of all grief. Fortunately, the four friends from Oshawa have been able to rely on each other since their formation in 2015, starting with Katie Munshaw and drummer Charlie Spencer, eventually bringing in the other Spencer siblings, Mackenzie and Alex, into the mix. Their stability as a group allows for Munshaw to open up on the new record, showcasing their growth as a group and individuals.
The Sun and Her Scorch is a collection of anthems for tying up loose ends while walking through different doorways. And not only has the Oshawa quartet found maturity in their content, but the new release opens up to richer sonic textures and experimentation, showing signs of confidence in their abilities despite the lyrical insecurities.
Dizzy open with “Worms”, a poetic and effect-drenched ode to accepting death, setting the tone of the album with its melancholic and insightful tone. Its atmospheric sound is a sweeping interlude before pushing forward into a track list of heartfelt depth.
The album’s lead single “Sunflower “is a three and a half minute ‘snap out of it!’ to myself when I’m feeling low, unconfident or not myself“, explains Munshaw. The ebb and flow of the record matches the band’s teetering wave of emotion, bobbing between optimism and gloomy realism. She opens up about her fear of death (a topic that is littered across the album), singing “How do I sleep without having a dream where I don’t wake up? / Where the kids still sing, the pendulum swings, the grass pushed up” before pushing forward into the bright chorus; it’s infectious hook and summery energy helps to blanket over the dark undertones.
“How do you think you’ll die?”, she asks on the following track “Good and Right”, reiterating her obsession with mortality. But despite her morbid thought process, she hopes for a peaceful passing: “I hope its good and right” she sings as a hypnotic, echoey dream.
And while her fear and obsession with death feels almost irrational, Katie’s unfortunate connection to the concept comes out in the vulnerable and honest “The Magician”.
“One trip to Amsterdam, four trips around the sun / Has it really been that long since your name was sung?” she begins, paying tribute to a close friend that tragically passed away in her early twenties. “To me, [it] reeks of naivety and innocence in a way that really hurts my heart,” Munshaw explains. “Hoping she’ll walk into my gig at the local pub, hoping to see her mom at Sobeys just to remember how similar their laughs were. Hoping for magic.” Its dark inspiration is washed over with its bright instrumentals, playing the part of a smile while holding back tears, once again blurring the line between sadness and happiness.
While death seems to take over on the first part of the record, Dizzy begin to shift gears into the errors of diminished love; speaking to an ex on “Beatrice” and “Primrose Hill”, and reminiscing about a relationship that wasn’t meant to be on “Lefty”, and worrying about the fear of stability in life and love on “Roman Candle”. Their sombre energy is lifted by the band’s rich instrumentation, compiling together layers of guitar, synthesizers, and vocal harmonies to break through the bleakness of the record.
The poetry of the title The Sun and Her Scorch comes out in the final moments of the record. The beauty and power of the sun can also be damaging and striking, as is the turmoil of life and loss, best captured on “Ten”. A final goodbye to her late friend, it explores the bittersweetness of having memories with someone, knowing they’ll eventually burn out and move on. The song’s poignant lyricism is comforted by the band’s lush instrumentation, providing a profound and emotive musical backdrop for the openhearted single, coming full circle with the closing interlude “Worms II”.
While it may sound heavy, The Sun and Her Scorch is oddly bright and warm, like the sun breaking through after a rainstorm. Its honesty and vulnerability is captivating and magnetic, stirring up difficult emotions from the combination of the lyrics and musicality. All of it is draining, nostalgic, and dives into the uncomfortable strifes of being human, but at the risk of sounding cliche, the ending of one thing often leads to the beginning of another, and Dizzy find the strength to push towards the future.
Listen to the album below:
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