Music Review // Firerose Phoenix

When “Phoenix” first begins there are some pleasant tones which makes it feel like we’re ascending.  This makes me think of dream pop but as the song kicks in I am taken to other places.  As much as this song has a retro vibe to it, as it feels like it could be out of the 1980’s or early 1990’s, there are also some elements in here which make me think about the later 1990’s.  It’s that era of artists like (but not quite the same) Lisa Loeb, Natalie Imbruglia and as they phase into artists such as Destiny’s Child. 

The idea of the phoenix is one that people use a lot but it’s not always like this.   In some ways I feel like a break up song about rising from the ashes to become someone new feels more typical, but Firerose uses this take to feel like the other person is putting together the missing pieces rather than tearing someone down.  I think it is just as important to have these ideas of someone being able to lift you up and change you for the better,  not just in a rising from the ashes way where the fire is your enemy or tragic circumstances. 

It is also quite interesting to hear this song now that we have began Autumn.  I’ve thought for a lot of my life how Autumn leads to Winter, that’s when animals hibernate, and then we all kind of come back out and emerge anew in the Spring time when we also seems to just begin to blossom and bloom.  But when trees shed their leaves of various colors- which is what Autumn looks like here- it’s much like the way a snake sheds its dead skin to form a new layer.   So I think this can be a good Autumn anthem since that fire is like shedding that which you no longer need, but also working toward that which you do.  

Firerose shows that there can never be enough songs about starting over and feeling complete.   This is done in such a manner here that the music goes right along with the lyrics and transformation.   If you were to see a character in a film start a new life with someone who helps complete them, having those scenes flash by as examples of all the ways that other person makes them whole would be a great montage set to this song.  But until a movie like that comes along, you just have to set this to your life.