During our conversation, Sarah Morris referred to herself as a “feelings-helper-haver.” It’s a job description far too informally worded to align with therapist, but it’s not an entirely separate field. Morris is a songwriter, one who hones in on specifics and thoroughly explores emotions and patterns of thinking in great detail even if she doesn’t focus as much on the events behind them. As perhaps the world’s first self appointed feelings-helper-haver, Morris believes in capturing her precise experiences in order to reach others.
“If it’s coming up for me as a person, chances are it’s coming up for someone else and I’ll be able to more accurately serve them as a songwriter,” said Morris of her bursts of catharsis. “I want to be able to point that out to others who I love and sometimes I need that pointed out to me.”
Say Yes is an odyssey that encourages embracing love. It digs into anxieties and bitter breakups while simultaneously chasing the high of something special and defending the idea that it’s all worth it. Morris achieves that feat with exceptional lyrics and an album that feels dreamy, drifting on her high register and steadfast tendency to return to optimism. This isn’t the album to listen to in order to close a difficult chapter, but it would have to be among my top picks to have on while beginning to write a new one.
The journey more or less begins with Morris seeing someone “Glow.” “There’s something about you lately/everybody’s saying there’s an easy peaceful way you move now/just like sun on water,” she sings, in awe of someone who is in the right place for themself. It’s heartening to hear a song that celebrates someone else’s happiness. In the context of the album, “Glow” starts Morris on a journey of healing, wanting what her friend has but without a hint of bitterness.
“That song has a bit of envy in it but it’s also celebration. I wrote it around my birthday and I was not feeling particularly glowy myself, but it sure makes me happy to look over and see someone else killing it,” said Morris.“When someone’s really rooted in their awesomeness, they’re not even showing it off because they don’t have to. They can’t help but glow. If you surround yourself with people who are in that state it’s kind of contagious. So go by some glowy folk and celebrate them.”
As a spark for change, “Glow” is a warm but small one. Morris admits more probably needs to happen to shake someone out of a rut.
“It really takes us a lot to finally make that move out of a situation,” she said. “As humans we are pretty willing to stay in things that don’t serve us well because it’s a lot of work to leave.”
Say Yes does not shy away from the fact that love can turn into something that doesn’t serve us. “The next thing I did was let out a howl/a full on scream leaving my mouth/you could say, you could say/a lot about a woman in her coming apart,” Morris sings on “Hard on a Heart.” The moment comes after a divorce. There’s neither celebration nor defeat here, just release.
“I thought about how it would feel to have a full catharthis of a moment, but in the back of your mind know this isn’t necessarily going to last,” said Morris. “There will be more complex follow up, but the fun of singing “Hard on a Heart” and tapping into that character is that for just a minute, she’s going with the purity of getting out of it. We’re supposed to feel our feelings.”
When it comes time to regain her glow, Morris arrives back at love. It doesn’t seem to be for lack of trying to find a safer place to rest her head. “I’ve scanned the wisdom of the ages/I have searched the stars above/and mostly found some variation of yes/the good stuff, the good stuff, love,” she sings on “Love.”
“The One I Choose” is the standout of a very strong album for both its unusual concept and perfect plot twist. Morris essentially starts this song looking for the most ethical way to leave someone. She wants to slip out the back door, perhaps say it face to face, but anything to make a selfish act as painless as possible. “That’s the one I choose,” she sings of this hypothetical mercy. Perhaps it’s already obvious at this point, but there’s an awful lot of care in this relationship. So when Morris ultimately decides choosing to stay, it’s both hard won and fully rationalised. The fantasy fades into an even more satisfying reality.
“I’m a mom. I had young kids at the time,” Morris explained. “Even if I would never ever, ever, ever leave, it’s still pretty normal to have those daydreams to mentally escape. But the truth is you’re never going to.”
Her thought experiment might end with stasis, but it’s still transformative. A listener will hear what it’s like to almost accidentally take stock of everything and come to appreciate it more. They’ll get a fuller sense of Morris’ anxieties and values. And perhaps they’ll start thinking a little bit about their own reasons for not escaping, even if there is a part of them that wants to.
“Two things could be true, and ultimately I think this person lands on the truest,” said Morris.
Oddly enough, I feel inclined to explain Morris’ most powerful idea with a quote from Winston Churchill: “Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” Being single and explorations of freedom may have provided that moment of catharsis throughout the album, but none of it beats that simple and elegant concept people keep making their way toward.
“The stars are back/and I for one refuse to take them for granted” Morris sings later on in the album. Love is “light cutting through the deep black,” even if it seems to be the very thing capable of stranding someone out there in the first place.
Though the album contains 10 tracks, I would have stopped at 8. “Some Of That Is True” feels like the natural conclusion for this story. “The details they don’t matter now/so I paint them however I choose,” Morris sings. This time, she’s driving off into the sunset with a loved one. That fantasy escape is “somewhere only we know” rather than a life alone. The dreamer we heard earlier on exploring a way out is using that same imagination to make a good situation better. She’s softened but hasn’t lost what defines her. I can certainly feel her settling into an easy glow.
Above is the full episode as aired on WUSB’s Country Pocket, including both my interview with Sarah Morris and the songs we discussed, starting with Hard on a Heart, which opens in the middle of a breakdown. The interview begins with the second video in the playlist. You can hear the show live alternate Wednesdays at 8am on WUSB 90.1 FM or check the blog to watch it as a YouTube playlist. Visit http://www.WUSB.fm and https://sarahmorrismusic.com for more.
Country Pocket 