***American history is blood-stained with the dehumanization of entire communities. Casting her own harrowing spell, singer-songwriter Sarah Peacock draws parallels between current events and the 1692 Salem Witch Trials with the title song to her new record, Burn the Witch. Finger-picking guitar work cleanses the throat as her voice swells to mimic the havoc strewn through time, as well as present-day strife along our southern border. Such raw intensity boils over onto the rest of the 11-track record, and while her style is not easily defined, her storytelling prowess is irrefutably potent and unnerving.
“Hopefully, this song inspires people to take a look at what’s happening in our world today and how we abuse people,” she says of the song, which is delivered as a “catalyst for hope.”
Peacock has a bedeviling way about her, particularly in the way she harvests such influences as Brandi Carlile and Heart. She even filters heavy metal band Metallica through a rootsy, acoustic lens to emerge with a silky, sticky musical web of her very own. “Keep Quiet” slithers from her bones in a similar sinister fashion, twisting her lyrical mechanisms even tighter, while “Mojave” flourishes with a vibrantly polished hook. Her voice always rises to the occasion -- switching between various styles as effortlessly as a chameleon.
Firm in her belief to use her platform for social and cultural change, the shift occurred after her tour bus burned to the ground in 2016. Then on a four-month tour, weaving up the west coast, she and her crew stopped for a quick bite to eat. Their generator caught fire and the blaze consumed nearly everything aboard.
At the time of the bus fire in 2016, everything came to a head. It was a turning point not only for her personal development but for her music as well. Burn the Witch is Peacock at her most vulnerable, and yet there rises a great strength within her songwriting. She’s unafraid to confront social issues of being a queer woman in 2019, bullying, and displaying unconditional compassion. “Hold Me in Your Heart” is an astonishing acoustic-rooted moment and quite a wallop of a performance to bookend what will undoubtedly be one of 2020's most important releases.
Burn the Witch is a brawny, life-affirming set that digs into themes of perseverance, overcoming personal struggles, finding redemption in the ashes and what freedom should feel like. These 11 songs seek to uproot what we think we know about the world. Peacock works her magic across every single moment, each syllable diligently carrying its weight and heart. The music is expertly packaged and delivered with a sense of urgency while never feeling heavy-handed or exploitative. Burn the Witch is about truth and understanding of humanity, and Peacock will not back down until the whole world is listening.