World On The Ground. Sarah Jarosz

This review simply has to start with a comment on the artwork. On her previous albums I am familiar with is photo of Sarah Jarosz. Not so with World On The Ground. It holds a beautiful painting. Just take a moment to look at it before reading on, as it is worth every second of your attention.






Yes, the white space is deliberate.


With World On The Ground Sarah Jarosz sets a new step in her career as singer-songwriter. Her alt.americana/roots have not disappeared totally, but there's no denying that she has moved towards an alternative form of pop songs. Not unlike The Secret Sisters on their last album. It is a change I welcome I notice. Ms. Jarosz shows a side to her music that is instantly pleasing.

The soft often somewhat melancholy sounding songs flow softly and free. The (acoustic) guitar is more prominent than the other snare instruments heard more prominently on her older albums. They are still there but often more in the background. Yes, I know that solo's are played on them but that is creating an atmosphere not laying down the fundaments of an album.

There are a million albums like World On The Ground. A woman singing soft singer-songwriter songs. That makes it hard to extinguish yourself in any way. Fact is that most of these albums do not touch me in a serious way. To some of them I can't even listen to. So what sets this album apart? That starts with Sarah Jarosz' voice. It is a voice of the soothing kind. Like a mother singing her distraught baby to sleep. And I mean this in an extremely positive way. The music behind this voice is created to make it shine. The two seem to become one at the right moments. In 'Johnny' Sarah Jarosz sings with a little more effort and in comes a solid drum to drive the song forward. All else around the drums is serving the voice, just like the perfect harmonies do. A song that comes close to 'Drive', my favourite song by Hazeldine.

World On The Ground is an album to truly listen to. From that moment onwards all the small details reach me. The subtle instrumentation, where silence and emptiness in the accompaniment is almost as important as what is played, like in 'Orange And Blue', a song that comes more alive every time I listen to it. That makes this album an easy listening one, without the negative connotations sticking to that term from my youth. An easy going album that incorporates singer-songwriter, pop and americana in all the right ways. That makes it an album that multitudes should find their way with and not just purists of americana music.

As I wrote there are thousands and thousands of artists making music like this but not many do it at this level. Sarah Jarosz is an artist that I already liked but with World On The Ground she made a giant step as far as I'm concerned. This is her ALBUM and deserving of every single capitol letter typed here.

Wo.

Listen to our Spotify Playlist to find out what we are writing about:

https://open.spotify.com/user/glazu53/playlist/6R9FgPd2btrMuMaIrYeCh6?si=KI6LzLaAS5K-wsez5oSO2g