Label: Island Records
Released: 13th September 2024
Nothing about Dora Jar’s career has been normal so far, with her 2022 opening slot for Billie Eilish coming off the back of one five-song EP and a seven-song album, jolting her career forward by a couple of years. Her second record, ‘No Way To Relax When You Are On Fire’, references this exact craziness, but instead of rejecting it, she embraces it wholeheartedly.
Dora Jar is an artist who’s impossible to sum up in just one word or even one genre. At times, she’s a throwback to swirly pop icon Kate Bush, especially in her crystal clear, whistling vocals in ‘Timelapse’. At others, she dives into the experimental pop of Björk, with the cheeky, jaunty, country-esque ‘Smoke Out The Window’ representing Dora’s whimsical side, one whose warming smile is plastered across the record. There are equally forays into art-pop distortion in ‘Devil Eye’ that add slightly strange but beautifully crafted layers to this immensely colourful and effortlessly unique universe.
What she does better than pretty much anyone right now is drag those influences into a thoroughly modern style. Flitting between stripped-back, scrubbed acoustic guitar lines in ‘Sometimes All Ways’, ambient house electronics in ‘Behind The Curtain’, and more classic folk-pop in wondrous title-track ‘No Way To Relax When You Are On Fire’, Dora Jar keeps you guessing and keeps you hooked. ‘Puppet’ sees her embrace fuzzy, thumping rock guitar. Elsewhere, ‘Debbie Darling’ sees her delve into the deepest wells of her own conscience.
It’s an album that is deliciously diverse, wonderfully weird, and more than a bit unsettling (in a good way). Mark this as the moment when Dora Jar grew into the superstar she was always destined to be.
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