The second release from what seems destined to be UK Country's Album Of The Year has arrived with Savannah Gardner's "Wildfire". To call it a single in no way does this song justice, this is a concept finding a link between two seemingly disparate things and bringing them together to make something special. It is also visceral and real with heartbreak laid on the line and all of the above is both beautifully captured and delivered.
The image of the "Wildfire" is ever more etched in our consciousness, as each year they rage across the Europe and the US, even reaching the UK last year. They bring a seemingly unstoppable force that destroys all in it's wake. Less newsworthy are the followup effects as new life starts to grow from the embers now that it has light and warmth.
It is the initial raging that Savannah introduces us to in her opening verses. After a short wailing intro from a pedal steel guitar, Savannah sings out over just her acoustic guitar, recalling the events as if they were yesterday
"I was driving west of Yellowstone
Down a long and lonely road
There were ashes rising in the air
Smoke was everywhere
The sky looked like champagne
Flowing off the mountain range
And the embers they were shining
Turning into flames
It was blinding
Mesmerising
And I wanted it"
It is only on those last few lines that the band start to kick in. The way that the word "Mesmerising" is delivered is worth the price of admission alone!!
The chorus sees Savannah find a poetic beauty in the destruction surrounding her and applies it to her personal life.
"Wildfire light up my soul
Wildfire burn through the hole in my chest that he left
When he put us to rest
Wildfire, turn my cold heart gold"
The final repeated word of the chorus provides Savannah a springboard from which produce two marvellously extended notes.
The next verses fill in the backstory of personal heartbreak, the imagery from the opening verses now being used on herself.
"He was my first love in the dark he lit me up
But when he took his love away I felt the deepest shame
It was striking
He was the lightning
I wanted it"
It is the bridge that brings the two worlds together, the devastation and the rebirth.
"Clearing out the forest floor, settling my inner scores
I had to change I had to hurt, I had to rage I had to burn"
Savannah brings to the table a timbre quite unlike anyone else, it somehow captures and transmits the mood of her lyrics perfectly, you share the beauty at what she is viewing yet you also feel the hurt that she is suffering.
The opening lines to the third chorus have a tremendous world weariness to them, of someone worn down. Each time round the third line of the chorus changes, the final time being the most devastating it signals a rebirth and the band kick in and Savannah's vocal is reinvigorated
"When he chose her instead"
Savannah's final extended notes give way for the band to have their own moment to shine with an extended outro.
It is an absolute four minute gem, that comes from an album of absolute sparklers.
It all sets the scene for one of the most anticipated release shows of the year at The Camden Club on the 26th September