The Walls Ablaze

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The Walls Ablaze
Studio album by
Sarah Dougher
ReleasedMay 16, 2000
StudioJackpot!, Portland, OR
GenrePop rock, folk, indie pop
LabelMr. Lady
ProducerLarry Crane, Sarah Dougher
Sarah Dougher chronology
Day One
(1999)		 The Walls Ablaze
(2000)		 The Bluff
(2001)

The Walls Ablaze is the second album by the American musician Sarah Dougher, released on May 16, 2000.[1][2] She supported it with a North American tour.[3]

Production

Dougher was backed by Hannah Billie and Janet Weiss on drums and Jon Reuter on guitar.[4] Many of the songs are about relationships, aloneness, and the inability of people to change.[5] "The New Carissa" uses the story of the grounded freighter New Carissa to describe a fractured romantic connection.[6] "Mirror/Shield" is about women who in various capacities perform to earn a living.[7] The title track was inspired by Dougher's studies of the Fall of Troy; Dougher had taught Greek and Roman literature at the collegiate level.[8]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusicStarStarStarStar[9]
The Boston PhoenixStarStarStar[10]
Entertainment WeeklyC[11]
Press and Sun-BulletinB+[12]

CMJ New Music Report called the album "a fertile collection of folkloric wordplay and personal introspection."[13] The Washington Post said that it was "catchy if conventional pop-rock" and noted that Dougher "sings of love, loss and the like in a style that recalls both '60s folk-rockers and '70s singer-songwriters."[3] The Morning Call noted that Dougher "tends to over-articulate, pushing the loud points of each melody to the limit and sounding strangely self-conscious in the process."[14] The Press and Sun-Bulletin praised Dougher's "dry, subtle and sharp" folky humor.[12]

Greil Marcus, in The New York Times, labeled The Walls Ablaze "as impassioned an album as anyone released" in 2000.[15] The Boston Phoenix deemed it "sinewy Matadorian indie pop".[10] AllMusic stated, "Dougher's melodic vocals can be linked to Bettie Serveert's Carol van Dijk, and the Spinanes' Rebecca Gates, and instrumentation echoes like early Lene Lovich cuts."[9] The Bay Area Reporter listed The Walls Ablaze as the sixth best album of 2000, tied with Capable Egg.[16]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."The Walls Ablaze" 
2."No-Handed" 
3."The Scales" 
4."The New Carissa" 
5."What She'd Trade" 
6."The Ground Below" 
7."Mirror/Shield" 
8."She Stood Up" 
9."What's Good Is Better Than Gone" 
10."The Old Way" 
11."The Flag" 
12."The Match" 

References

  1. "Also Out This Week". Calendar. Los Angeles Times. May 14, 2000. p. 70.
  2. "Android Lust, Other Intriguing Bands to Rock". Weekender. The Columbus Dispatch. May 18, 2000. p. 8.
  3. Jenkins, Mark (May 14, 2000). "You Go, Grrrls!". The Washington Post. p. G14.
  4. Gidney, Holly (June 2000). "Reviews". Off Beat. No. 150. p. 12.
  5. Hicks, Robert (May 19, 2000). "Bad News for the Culture of Self-Improvement". Lifestyle/Previews. The Record. Hackensack. p. 13.
  6. Taylor, Lewis (April 28, 2000). "Native daughter Sara Dougher returns to town". Ticket. The Register-Guard. p. 12.
  7. "Sarah Dougher". Trouser Press. Retrieved May 25, 2026.
  8. Weisbard, Eric, ed. (2004). This Is Pop: In Search of the Elusive at Experience Music Project. Harvard University Press. pp. 151–152.
  9. "The Walls Ablaze Review by MacKenzie Wilson". AllMusic. Retrieved May 25, 2026.
  10. Perry, Jonathan (July 28, 2000). "Off the Record". The Boston Phoenix. Vol. 29, no. 30. p. 24.
  11. Vincentelli, Elisabeth (July 21, 2000). "Sarah Dougher: The Walls Ablaze". Entertainment Weekly. No. 550. p. 79.
  12. Stevens, Andy (January 25, 2001). "Folk singer Dougher is brash, not bitter; deep, not dour". Good Times. Press and Sun-Bulletin. p. 16.
  13. Konig, Bill (May 15, 2000). "Reviews". CMJ New Music Report. Vol. 62, no. 666. p. 18.
  14. Warminsky III, Joe (September 9, 2000). "Sarah Dougher: The Walls Ablaze". The Morning Call. p. A53.
  15. Marcus, Greil (November 25, 2001). "In Her Songs, She Puts Everything on the Line". The New York Times. p. 2.29.
  16. Shapiro, Gregg (December 28, 2000). "Assembly Line 2000". Bay Area Reporter. Vol. 30, no. 52. p. 37.