No Way To Relax When You Are On Fire – A Review Of Dora Jar’s Debut Album

By Kayla Harper

The bedroom pop phenomenon, Dora Jarkowski, professionally known as Dora Jar, released her highly anticipated debut album No Way To Relax When You Are On Fire on September 13, 2024 after releasing two EP’s and various singles in the past years.  She is gaining momentum in her career alongside Gracie Abrams, as an opening act on Abrams’s first arena tour, The Secret Of Us Tour.  The two have publicly praised each other’s talents and have similar musical styles on the surface, which is why it makes sense that long term fans of Abrams, like myself, have become infatuated with Jar’s discography.

No Way To Relax When You Are On Fire is cohesive in the way it moves from the first track to the last, as it does, it pushes the limits of bedroom pop with its influences from artists like The Beatles and Outkast (these are only two of her major influences, but as you can already tell it’s quite the range).  Jar differentiates herself from a sea of bedroom pop artists trying to make it by keeping her production sonically interesting–when listening you can never quite get comfortable with what you’re hearing because it’s about to switch up and do something unexpected at any moment.

Jar’s hauntingly soft and airy vocals soar above the guitar-led tracks, riddled with synths and ghostly, but beautiful harmonies.  In the opening track, “This Is Why”, Jar sings, “Rough water is still water no matter how much it moves” which seems to become a common theme in the singer’s approach to life’s ups and downs on this record.  Throughout its whimsical feel and exploration of deeper concepts of life and self, No Way To Relax When You Are On Fire has an underlying positive tone unlike what you’d expect when you initially hit play the first time.  Jar’s lyrics contain intricate imagery and surprising metaphors, avoiding cliches entirely intriguing the listener as they pause on each comparison and come to a startling truth when they comprehend its meaning in relevance to their own life.  There seems to be a consistent nature motif throughout the album, making it feel grounded in reality despite being overly whimsical and airy.

In an attempt to answer some of the hardest questions like who am I? Jar delves into self exploration on tracks like “Timelapse” and “Debbie Darling”, only to find that who we are is a continuous exploration throughout life’s duration since we are ever changing with our environment.  The theme of self exploration throughout this album is consistent with where Jar was when she wrote it; she explains to Flood Magazine, “[the album] mirrors how it felt like my life began, moving in significant chapters. My life began in New York City, I grew up in Northern California, then I went to a boarding school in Connecticut when I was 14. Then I moved to Boston for two months to try out for music school and miserably failed, then Poland, New York City, and London. I’ve really had a hard time grounding and finding a sense of wanting to root.” (Jar, Flood Magazine, 2024).

In the same interview with Flood Magazine, Jar reveals that her dreams play a huge role in the creation of her music, whether it’s vivid imagery or song concepts–which makes sense with some of the abnormal imagery and astounding truth revealed in the album’s lyrics, especially in songs such as “Behind The Curtain” and “Debbie Darling”.

Although the majority of the album seems to revolve around self-discovery and understanding, it remains interesting and different from song to song while still being cohesive as it strives to comprehend the human experience and understanding of one’s self in various facets of life.  For example, songs such as “Ragdoll”, “She Loves Me” and the title track, “No Way To Relax When You Are On Fire” seem to explore self-concept in relevance to love and romantic relationships. “Puppet” is perhaps the most experimental song on the album with its almost distorted choruses and rhythmic verses, alongside “Behind The Curtain” which has an almost electronic, dance-pop feel to it at times, while being honest and confessional, much like “Sometimes All Ways”.

In the past Jar has revealed how writing this album and music in general has been a cathartic experience.  Listening to it is not much different.  No Way To Relax When You Are On Fire takes listeners on a journey through each track with regard to all of life’s angles and does not shy away from the intimidating questions and perhaps the most daunting of all, who am I? Who are we?  Although in the final track of the album, “Holy Water”, Jar sings “Don’t know who I am anymore,” she follows this up with, “I wish I could tell myself it doesn’t really matter now anyway.”  Which is somehow a comforting resolution to the question that doesn’t only plague this album, but most of our lives.

Beyond all else, it’s the way Jar’s beautiful vocals harmonize with the complex instrumentals making for an outstandingly produced album.  Its ability to draw inspiration from various genres including indie/alt/bedroom-pop, rock, electronic and hip-hop and incorporate intriguing piano, keyboards, drums, electric guitar, horns, etc. but most prominently, Jar’s intricate finger-style acoustic guitar into one body of work that is cohesive and addictive makes it a worthwhile listen.