New-Jersey-raised Egyptian-born musician Sara Barry, akaTeen Idle, waxes lyrical about growing up (or the much-appreciated failure to), departure and heartbreak in her new album, ‘Nonfiction’.
Memoir or not, Nonfiction chronicles the constant state of leaving that comes with adulthood, placing a special emphasis on our reluctance to do so. The 11-track album blurs the lines between indie-rock and bedroom pop in a comprehensive playlist, during which Sara’s dreamy guitar chords transport us inwards. Despite leaving much room for our own introspection, the album is an intimate portrait of Sara’s experience with growing up and getting your heart broken (and then fixing it).
The album’s first single ‘Birthday Cake’ describes this diffidence towards growing up, one that is unintended and even somewhat childish, eloquently. The lyrics “You hid away for thirty days And now you’re home to state your case,” portray just how worrisome the mischievous recklessness of unconfirmed adulthood can be to the people that love us. And yet, it seems as though getting trapped in the Birthday Cake is a rite of passage.
On the record, the single is followed by ‘Norway’, a song that seems to narrate Sara’s burning desire to visit Norway (or any other place that’s far away), when it is really just holding a magnifying glass up to how one’s hometown will always find a way to draw them back in. To Sara, however far she travels, the familiar soils of New Jersey will always be within her.
Bonus track ‘On Fire’ is heavily inspired by Edie Sedgwick, a Warhol factory girl, who Sara considered to be a central factor in the cultivation of the New York arts and culture scene she is so captivated by. The tragic ending Edie received is not necessarily symbolic of a theme of tragedy in the album, but it does provide a rich texture to ponder.
