When singer-songwriter Sarah Jarosz was thinking about album titles for her latest release, she finally settled on “Polaroid Lovers” because she liked the way the song sounded and rolled easily off the lips, and because it had many different meanings.
“There’s the literal meaning of two lovers, two people in a Polaroid photo that kind of comes up in the song (‘When the Lights Go Out’),” Jarosz said. “But then also the idea of a Polaroid picture, that nostalgic form of a photo that captures a fleeting moment but you still have it in the physical form of the photo. There’s something about thinking about life and the moments that are fleeting but the memories that we keep, I just liked how the title kind of evoked that.”
Jarosz also drew a parallel between Polaroids and the resurgence of vinyl records at concerts, as there is a value in something you can hold or experience in your hand that digital technology lacks.
“We’re always going to want something tangible, something that’s not just in the air or in the clouds,” she said Thursday in a phone call from Morgantown, West Virginia. “I feel that way even with live music. I don’t think that feeling will ever be replaced for people. There’s that physical tangibility when you put on a record or take a Polaroid photo, there’s something unique about the human experience.”
Jarosz, who has fond memories of performing at the 2017 Three Rivers Arts Festival, will be bringing her Polaroid Lovers tour to the area. She will be performing at the Roxian Theater in McKees Rocks on September 3, with the duo Viv & Riley as the opening act. The final leg of her tour kicked off just last week, and she is excited to be playing the majority of the new album in her shows.
“It was incredible. I’m not just saying that. It was really, this year has been some of my favorite live performances,” she said. “There’s just something about this record, these songs beg to be played live and they just fit that environment. So it was so much fun. I just love it.”
Over the course of her 15-year career, Jarosz has been nominated for ten Grammys and won four: Best Folk Album and Best American Roots Performance in 2017, Best American Roots Song in 2019, and Best Americana Album in 2021. With that legacy in mind, she set to work creating a setlist that would heavily feature the new album while incorporating the past.
“Honestly, at the beginning of the year, I was maybe curious how this would play out mixing my older songs with this new record,” she said. “But that’s kind of been one of the coolest parts of these shows this year: putting together the setlist and incorporating songs from all of my albums and how they really feel like they fit together. It feels like a seamless transition from old songs to new songs and I’ve enjoyed that tension in the live show.”
Although “Polaroid Lovers” came out in January, Jarosz said the album “still feels new, exciting and fresh to me.” It changes from night to night, but she said some of her live favorites include “Jealous Moon,” “Runaway Train,” “The Way It Is Now” and “Take the High Road.”
Another track on the album, “Columbus and 89th,” is “perhaps the most personal song on the record,” referring to the New York City cross street where she lived for seven years.
“When the pandemic hit, I moved to Nashville, and I didn’t realize until looking back how quickly that change happened and how much of a transition it was from adolescence to adulthood and how often in life these big transitions happen in the blink of an eye,” she said. “And we couldn’t really realize it until looking back. So it’s an emotional song for me. It’s close to my heart.”
The music video, shot on her friend Jodi March’s iPhone, documents her favorite spots on the Upper West Side.
“It is also very special for me because it is a kind of souvenir of this time and this phase of my life,” said Jarosz.
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While this song looks back, Jarosz wanted to break new ground with this album. To that end, she collaborated with other writers more than in the past, writing songs with Daniel Tashian, Jon Randall, Sarah Buxton, Natalie Hemby, Ruston Kelly and Gordie Sampson.
“When I first started, I was very closed off to co-writing for a long time because I felt like if I was writing with other people, I still had to find my voice as an artist and my voice as a songwriter,” she said. “And I thought if I did too much co-writing too soon, someone else’s voice might take over and I’d kind of get lost in the weeds. Now I just feel absolutely more open to the process because I find so much inspiration and collaboration in working with other creative people.”
The fresh voices opened up new perspectives and pushed her in unexpected directions, while at the same time maintaining her own voice.
“When you sit down with someone, it’s almost like writing with another great writer. They can show you something about yourself that you might not have seen on your own,” she said. “And there’s kind of this process of revelation. I think that’s definitely happened with some of the songs on this record.”
Mike Palm is a digital producer for TribLive who also writes music reviews and features. A Westmoreland County native, he joined the Trib in 2001, where he spent years on the sports desk, including as evening sports editor. He joined the multimedia desk in 2013. He can be reached at [email protected].
