By Fenton Wright, Staff Writer
Artist: Ritchy Mitch & The Coal Miners
Album: Colorado’s On Fire Again
Favorite Songs: “Berry Herman,” “Santiago,” and “El, Imponderable”
For Fans Of: Mt. Joy, Gregory Alan Isakov, Noah Kahan
Reflection and Rebirth
Colorado’s On Fire Again is the fourth studio album from Ritchy Mitch & The Coal Miners. The album, worked on by the band for five years, is made up of 14 songs and marks the result of five years' work.
This album is much more personal than any other album by RMCM. It feels like a reflection on the cycle that we as a society are constantly stuck in. The main themes in the album are reflection and rebirth. In the making of this album, RMCM witnessed their home of Colorado constantly burning year after year. The entire album is an ode to the people that helped RMCM get to where they are now, but it is also a reminder of the brutal reality that faces the state each year, with there being over 5,000 wildfires per year in Colorado. We as a society and country have come to accept the destruction associated with wildfires as something that is routine. In this album RMCM takes us down the path of reconstruction and pulls us into the reality of those who face them multiple times a year every single year.
Slow Burn
In early February, when RMCM announced Colorado’s On Fire Again, they released “Berry Herman” as the precursor to the album. Fittingly it is also the lead-off track of the album. It immediately throws us into the themes of reflection and rebirth (which are also embedded in the rest of the album). It grounds us almost instantly. In this song we get the most powerful lyrics of the entire album, “Picking up pieces of this world I grew up in, while my hands have held nothing after it burnt to the ground. So I’ll pick up my feet instead.” From this line, the process of rebuilding begins.
This is easily for me the best song on the album. Instrumentally, it sounds amazing. The slow build throughout the song leads to this swell of emotion towards the end that in my opinion is the best example of what RMCM were trying to achieve with this album. It also fully encompasses the arc of someone going through the pain of losing everything and themselves in a fire. Lyrically this is also one of the best songs on the album. Aside from the lyrics that I already mentioned there is also a beautiful metaphor of the Phoenix rising from the ashes. This is the beginning of the story and it hooks us in such a poetic way that it is impossible not to love.
The next song, “Churchill,” continues that rebuilding process that is in “Berry Herman.” The song encompasses the feeling of not knowing what to do after losing everything. RMCM in this song is trying to find comfort in their partner. They're trying to move past the fires, failed relationships, and the general destruction that is present in their lives, but everything they see only serves to remind them of what they no longer have.
In this song they also propose a question that you have to answer when trying to rebuild, “Can I come home the same if I lose parts of me on the path?” “Churchill” instantly plays into the next song, “Santiago.” RMCM shows us that so much goes into trying to come out of a disaster a better person. “Santiago” is short and straight to the point, you can not give up when the road ahead is uncertain or tough. You have to trust yourself and rely on the people around you that are there to help you.
“Homebody” changes the point of view of the album in my opinion. We go from being the person trying to rebuild to being the ones trying to help them overcome their sadness. This song feels like a plea to accept the help that is being offered and to let themselves be vulnerable. The perspective of RMCM changing in this song adds another beautifully explained layer of grief.
The stages of grief develop even further in the next song of the album: “For the Jets.” We go back to being the person who is rebuilding their life and join them at a later time. There is an acknowledgment in this song that there is help out there, “Heart beats out to say they’re here for me, I heard it coming. The magnet hand guides itself right up to my cheek.” Despite this help, it is hard to accept it. RMCM through “For the Jets” shows us how even when you want to accept what is there for you, it can all still feel futile.
“Precursor” gives us time to reflect on the first half of the album. It is a short 40 second arrangement of distorted noises that RMCM have never used before. It makes us feel numb, it makes us feel the nothingness that comes after losing it all. To me this represents the phase of grief where you feel nothing but despair. Up until this point in the album we feel denial, anger, but now that all of those feelings have passed there is nothing but despair.
Carrying On
In the beginning of the second half of the album, RMCM brings us to the beginnings of acceptance in “Xrunk.” The speaker is finally starting to be honest with how he feels to himself and the people around him. They also further the idea that “Precursor” was an amalgamation of what it feels like to be numb with the lyrics, “Cause I’ve been spinning in the back seat, losing track of my decisions.” They are now pouring out from their heart and trying to be more open than they were in the past.
Up to this point in the album aside from “Homebody” we have been in one perspective. “Heywood” takes us back into the perspective of the people surrounding the primary speaker on the album. This song feels like the loved ones are still desperately trying to fully get through to this person, and, while they do care for them, there is only so much that they can do before realizing that their time is being wasted.
“Henson’s Dream” is another musical interlude, but unlike the numbness in “Precursor,” this interlude serves as a severing of ties for the singer. To me it seems like this song is trying to encapsulate the feeling of needing to leave someone in order to grow. It even has the lyrics “I’m cutting loose” in it.
Ode To Love
The backend of the album moves away from the theme of the fire and makes it an undertone to the new primary theme of love and the people we associate with love. We never fully get closure with what happens in my opinion and that to me is intentional. It is supposed to replicate the feeling of almost overcoming the grief and pain that comes with losing everything in a fire just for another one to be on the horizon ready to destroy your world again. Now RMCM takes the opportunity to remember the people that they know in Colorado and pay tribute to their love of them and their fortitude against these recurring disasters.
On top of being an ode to the fires in Colorado this album is also a recognition of the people that have been a part of the journey that RMCM have been on since 2017. “Talons” is just that. It along with “Sweet Summer” to me feel like songs that represent a decaying relationship. Everything reminds them of their past lover and in their words they are “tethered” to them forever. Their self worth has been built on this relationship, and without it they are nothing.
If “Berry Herman” was not on this album, then “El Imponderable” would be the most beautiful song on the album. If I am correct in saying that the backend of the album revolves around people that RMCM loves that still live in Colorado or have just been a part of their journey as a band, then this song paints a beautiful picture of the desire that RMCM has to be the best they can be for them. In this song they manage to perfectly describe why we crave love and why we want to become better for the people we love. We always want to be everything that someone needs and “El Imponderable” shows that to the fullest extent.
“7052 Days” is the second to last song on the album, and it takes us out of this theme of love and finally gives us the acceptance that is missing from the first 13 songs on the album. In my opinion this album takes us through the five stages of grief: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance. This song feels like the finality of that grief, but with the undertone and harsh reality that it could all happen again.
In the same vein, “October Moon” apologizes to the neglect that can come while we wallow in our own despair. It felt to me like a recognition of someone’s fault and the desire to do better. The moment for apology might have passed, but “October Moon” and Colorado’s On Fire Again is a reminder that it is never too late to change and do better.
Colorado’s Finest
Colorado’s On Fire Again to me has been one of the best albums I have listened to so far this year. I have always loved RMCM since the first time I heard their hit song “Evergreen” years ago, and this album feels like the culmination of all their hard work, with the promise that they will only do more from here. This album is painfully beautiful and to me captures what it is like to lose everything and start again from nothing. The swell of the instruments on every single song partnered with the poetic lyrics made this album unforgettable for me. On top of how beautiful this album is, the cause it is for is even better. All the initial proceeds of the song will be given to the LA Fire Mutual Aid efforts and to various different organizations across Colorado to help mitigate the effects of wildfires.
If you are interested in supporting wildfire efforts yourself, check out the following resources. This link will show ways to help those affected by LA wildfires, while this link will present a site informing those who want to support victims of wildfires in Colorado.
The Path
I cannot recommend this album enough! It felt like a true journey through the mind of Ritchy Mitch & The Coal Miners. Please go and listen to this fantastic album! And of course, don’t just take my analysis of it at face value, there is so much to unpack here and so much to discover in Colorado’s On Fire Again.
