Grief is such a universal emotion and also something that no one really knows what to do with. Whether it’s a beloved pet, a family member, a partner, or a friend, the emptiness is seemingly eternal until those emotional scars patch up ever so slowly. Six months later, and I still find it hard to believe we lost our first ever cat, but grief can’t always be a negative. It’s negative image left over from the love you feel for someone or something.
The Soviette’s own Annie Sparrows was left bereft from the loss of her aunt, and writing pop punk didn’t feel like the correct salve for the wound. What became as a result from the musical exorcism is A Great Time to Be An Empath a record that—much like the ways grief haunts us—disconnected in tone, unified by emotion, more joyous than initial expectations, and probably drowning in tears. It feels particularly personal and raw but performed with a clear desire to smile along with the hurt. The depth and breadth of that pain lingers, depending on how much you think about the lyrics. Somehow, Sparrows turned that sadness into a real treat of an album full of life and the desire to push forward. That the record floats between and among genres with aplomb: Post-punk Americana? Indie folk punk? It seems like it’s just songs that feel ancient and fresh at the same time. That sensibility was both purposeful and accidental
“I love sarcasm and sometimes a wink, especially during dark times. I wrote ‘Solid Start’ and ‘Breakdown’ especially as dance numbers about death and dying. I think it’s a darkly funny idea, and man, when things are so bad, what else are you going to do but laugh, you know? I just needed to say that sometimes I am totally not OK. Hopefully other people might feel a bit of camaraderie or take solace in it, but hopefully they can party to the record too. (The record’s) a collection of songs, each written in its own world, that thankfully somehow work together even though on paper maybe they shouldn’t. Because I wasn’t writing an album or thinking in terms of a band, there was an incredible amount of freedom to just let the songs come out as they were. ‘Victoria’ surprised me the most just because it’s the least like I usually write. It could be a solo acoustic country-ish song, you know? I also was sobbing the whole time I sang, it so it’s really really raw. It took me a couple months to be able to sing it live without crying actually. Being brave enough to let that out for other people to hear, I guess that was the biggest surprise.”
