Kelly Curin Ott “Watching Fire Fly”
Kelly Curin Ott’s “Watching Fire Fly (Link coming soon) starts with a slow anticipatory ticking of time leading into a soulful blues guitar that picks at the emotions that will be laid bare by the coming lyrics. Even before we are treated to the vocals, a mournful slide guitar joins in as a sort of call and response to the blues, alternating between pain and the nostalgic longing to go back to that which caused us pain.
When we are treated to Ott’s vocals, we understand that this isn’t a breathy teen but a strong full-throated woman who puts her emotions on display for all to bear witness; think of a mature and icy-slick Anna Nalick. Ott’s voice is both haunting and reassuring, even as she struggles with the choices she’s made and still needs to make. As she reaches the chorus, we struggle with her, “such a lonesome sound, hear the phoenix cry, moving across the sky, watching fire fly.” There is despair and hope in the image of the phoenix, and those emotions are punctuated by the return of the blues-inflected guitar riff that follows.
The lyric that ties this song together is “That what don’t kill us, will surely fulfill us and give us the strength to move on.” We have all suffered/enjoyed those relationships and can empathize with our heroine, Ott. We don’t feel the need to save her; she’s got this, but we’ve all been there, and we feel for her. The song’s ending leaves us with the lingering blues guitar that drifts off, leaving us to ponder our own fate and look forward to the next track.
Henry James Morello 