photo by Dailey Toliver

Capturing love in song is one of the more elemental things about the continuum of music through the ages. It can be divine or personal but all forms of the love song offer something relatable. It helps the songwriter connect to their audience through the ups and downs and plateaus that are so becoming of all romantic partnerships. For Austin transplant Molly Burch, her debut is a window into the past few years of heartbreak and rekindling.

Taking elements of vintage pop and soul, the album in question, Please Be Mine also marks Burch’s first opportunity to take her wistful love songs on tour, supporting Tim Darcy and Sallie Ford on two separate legs in March and April respectively. Before making her debut tonight at Boot and Saddle (and visiting our city again on April 13th at Johnny Brenda’s), I had the chance to speak to Burch about her debut, what inspired it, as well as how her own songwriting has offered closure and renewal.

“When I wrote the album and recorded it I wasn’t signed yet,” she says on eventually getting signed to her label Captured Tracks. “But I started writing it in 2013 when I moved to Austin. I had just moved from North Carolina and moved by myself on a whim. That’s when I started writing the album and then we recorded about a year ago. We just sent [Captured Tracks] a cold demo submission and they signed me and wanted to put out the record basically as is.

“I had just sent it to friends and anyone who I felt who would give me good advice on the album,” Burch continues. “I had planned on sending it to labels and I didn’t know too much about that process.”

Thanks to her friend Jared, a member of the Austin-based psych-rock quartet the Zoltars, that process was simplified, giving her the advice to send the demo out to Captured Tracks. “They got back to me in a day,” she says. “It was very early on and I didn’t really send it to too many places. It was very fast.”

With two separate tours booked so far in 2017, things are on track to move even faster. Owing to that pace is Burch’s own tenacity and resilience. “I’ve always been a singer, songwriting came later,” she explains. “So for this whole record, I mean…I’m always learning and growing and of course everyone is, but there wasn’t much experimenting probably since I moved here. I write for my voice.”

That voice gifts her debut with an undeniable authenticity. She writes and sings from experience, developing the vocals that feel both natural and nuanced. “When I was younger my voice sort of leaned towards more pop music,” she says, recalling how she found her voice in the most literal sense. “I listened to a lot of Christina Aguilera and I grew up with American Idol. I feel I was too much like that. Then when I was in college I was studying jazz and it was almost like too much in that spectrum so I feel like I’ve sort of fused the two in a way where I feel like it has both of those elements. A jazz sound but with a pop mentality.”

This mentality trickles down into the doo-wop textures of Please Be Mine, some of the improvisational nature of which is utilized in her track “Please Forgive Me.” “It was one of the first songs I wrote for the album,” she says. “I think it was the second song. I wrote it on a ukulele, it was a very simple progression. I definitely wanted it to have a sort-of doo-wop vibe. That’s one’s about having such a young love and finding somebody else but then realizing you made a mistake and wanting that person back.”

Love and want are central to Burch’s recent songwriting. Healing heartbreak through her own music has inlaid a sweet if maudlin vibe that digs deep into relatable aspects of any long-term relationship. “The act of singing has always been a very therapeutic thing for me,” she explains, on writing to heal. “It just always makes me feel better. Specifically referring to the album, I went through a breakup right before I moved here. It was my first real time writing songs basically. I was dealing with breaking up and I wrote a lot of the songs like the title track when I moved here. That felt very cathartic.”

But the singer rejects the identity of her debut as a “breakup album.” After all such labels are reductive. “Since moving here, the guy I broke up with, we got back together,” she says referencing her bandmate Dailey Toliver. “A lot of the songs are inspired by reuniting with him. I feel like that in itself is very therapeutic for both of us in a way and learning how to work together.”

I, of course, couldn’t help but admit the inherent awkwardness that might arise from being partly the subject of an album while at the same time playing together on tour. “There’s never awkwardness,” she admits with a laugh. “He’s extremely supportive. We didn’t play with each other when we lived in Asheville. I feel like that was something we had to work up to.”

Molly Burch will open for Tim Darcy at the Boot and Saddle tonight, in addition to opening for Sallie Ford at Johnny Brenda’s on April 13th. Check out the video for her single “Downhearted” below.

Please Be Mine

Reviewed by: Lauren Rosier

The heartwarming vibe of indie pop shines again on the debut release from indie songstress, Molly Burch, titled Please Be Mine (Captured Tracks). The Brooklyn-based label has this way of finding great talent and Molly Burch is no exception.

Please Be Mine is filled from top of bottom of, yes, you guessed it, songs about love. From unrequited love (“Downhearted”, “Try”), loneliness (“Loneliest Heart”), and relationships. It’s definitely recommended if you like Angel Olsen or Natalie Prass.

On the opener, “Downhearted,” Burch sings of unrequited love and heartache “…they say the heart grows fonder/with every step you take/but as you move away from me/I feel my body break…” while on “Try” she sings “…Wouldn’t it be/ so nice/if we felt the same/I wish you would try/I wish you would try/I wish you would try/the day I/knew I wanted you/was the day we met…”

Clearly inspired by golden era Hollywood, Burch’s music is classic with a modern-day indie pop twist. Its beachy, chill vibe is perfect for those romantic evenings, while also being great for relaxing and winding down. You may have to listen to it a few times to truly appreciate its full artistry, but some of my favorite and the best albums of all-time were the same way.

There’s something so special about an artist that’s inspired by golden era music and is able to recreate it with a modern twist that’s all their own. And that’s what Molly Burch does on Please Be Mine.

Rating: Bad-Ass

Please Be Mine

Reviewed by: Meredith Aristone

Los Angeles bred University of North Carolina graduate, Molly Burch, does not hesitate to bear it all (specifically the most vulnerable contents of her heart) in her debut album, Please Be Mine. Ten emotionally gripping songs come together to paint a picture of love and loss, tinted with the occasional vibrant hues of desire.

After discovering her passion for writing and creating music, Burch retreated from California to North Carolina, where she studied jazz. This ignited a feverish light within that lead her to Austin, Texas, in search of independence, inspiration, and nourishment for her talents.

The record is essentially a retrofied roller coaster of sentiment, combining the romantic twang of Texas with the wanderlust energy of LA. Despite all of the tracks being recorded over the course of a single day, hard work paid off to create an effective display of a vocal range that is as vast and diverse as the two contrasting coasts on which Burch has spent her life frequenting. This seemingly infinite collection of notes is a satiating comfort to the eardrums of an audience eager for melodic consoling, seeking refuge from reality. Hauntingly beautiful and thick like honey, Burch’s elegant rasp floats effortlessly over what is primarily folksy guitar, and slow rhythmic beats with sultry jazz undertones, dipping in and out of falsetto like the Adirondack mountains.

“Please Be Mine”, the track for which the album was named, starts slow, with a distinguishing air of simplicity. Gradually, it climaxes to a chorus that emanates a vibe of angelic radiance, likely for which the addition of delicate background vocals similar to those of Christmas Carolers are responsible. Not unlike many of Burch’s other lyrics, the verses in this anthem detailing a love that never died are straightforward and minimal, never crossing the boundary of excess verbosity. While sparse or plan lyrics are often a downfall of otherwise good music, due to an unfeeling vagueness dominating the effects of the song, Burch actually manages to produce heart-shattering sensation with what she presents. There is an air of desperation, regret, and loneliness lingering between each word, as Burch begs for the return of an ex. The unabashed openness of Burch’s lyricism is a rarity in today’s society, deeming her efforts all the more respectable and refreshing. In addition to this, she manages to get her message across in a powerful way, without relying on specificity to draw listeners into the trap of emotional investment.

Despite this album being a big milestone of “firsts” in Burch’s career, she approaches it with a headstrong attitude, by presenting to the world a piece of artwork so full with fearless depth. In the world of music, Burch is the virgin you’d never suspect had yet to lose it. She is talented and full of a potential that will inevitably demand impact.

Rating: Listenable