The seventh full-length from four-time Grammy Award-winner Sarah Jarosz, Polaroid Lovers is an album-long meditation on those strangely ephemeral moments that indelibly shape our lives. "What I love about a Polaroid is that it's capturing something so fleeting, but at the same time it makes that moment last forever," says the Texas-born singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist. "It made sense as a title for a record where all the songs are snapshots of different love stories, and there's a feeling of time being expansive despite that impermanence." Thanks to the rarefied alchemy that infuses all of Jarosz's output — her finely wrought lyricism, ravishing vocal work, virtuosic yet unfettered musicality — Polaroid Lovers performs the much-needed magic of leading us toward a heightened sense of presence, all while casting a lovely spell with her timelessly powerful songs.
The follow-up to 2020's studio album World on the Ground (winner of the Grammy Award for Best Americana Album) and 2021's song cycle Blue Heron Suite, Polaroid Lovers embodies a bold new vitality that has much to do with a deliberate shift in Jarosz's writing process and sonic approach. "Historically I've been somewhat closed off to co-writing, but in the past couple of years I've felt curious to get out of my comfort zone," says the newly Nashville-based artist, who released her debut album at just 18-years-old. "For a long time it was important to me to write for myself, so that I wouldn't get lost in those rooms full of amazing writers. But now that I'm more confident in my musical identity, I know I can collaborate but still stay true to my own voice." In one of her first co-writing sessions for Polaroid Lovers, Jarosz joined forces with Daniel Tashian (a songwriter/musician/producer known for his multi-award-winning work on Kacey Musgraves' Golden Hour) and immediately felt an undeniable creative connection. "Daniel and I were both so excited by the idea of creating a new sound together, and he pushed me in ways I felt completely ready for and open to," she says. "It felt really good to allow myself that freedom, and to take that leap into something new."
About Viv & Riley
Viv & Riley's sound is old-soul roots music to its core, elegantly combining a traditional backbone with the fresh iconic melodies of future-leaning indie-folk, and the tightly wound vocal harmonies of the old-time and classic country music they came from.
