Dubowsky - What if There Were a Fire

Jack Curtis Dubowsky

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Dubowsky - What if There Were a Fire


Dirtbox Album Cover
 

Release Dates:
Bandcamp: Friday March 7, 2025
Steaming: Friday March 21, 2025

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TRACKS

  1. What if There Were a Fire — 3:43

CREDITS

Produced by Jack Curtis Dubowsky

Words and Music by Jack Curtis Dubowsky

Jack Curtis Dubowsky - Vocal
Ronald Scott Dibble - Piano
Laurel Diskin - Violin
Stevie Garcia - Guitar
Jeff Schwartz - Double Bass
Jack Curtis Dubowsky - Additional Programming
Produced, Arranged, and Mixed by Jack Curtis Dubowsky
Cover photograph by Tom Trafalski, taken on PCH during the Palisades fire.

What if There Were a Fire ©+Ⓟ 2025 Jack Curtis Dubowsky / De Stijl Music (BMI)

ABOUT

The LA fires affected everyone in the area. Everyone knew someone, breathed the awful air, and understood the gravity of the situation. I was very drawn to the emotional tugging as well as the immediacy and intensity of the moment. I felt little point in writing a boo-hoo tragic dirge, yet there was still a poignancy in the sense of emergency in evacuation and destruction. I was genuinely curious about what people chose to grab as they evacuated with minutes notice. And how those choices fit with our sense of longing and nostalgia, and how objects preserve memory.

I read a viral social media post chiding people about what not to say to those who lost their homes. What grabbed me was the use of the imperative, which is really effective in choral music and vocal music, because it is an opportunity to speak directly to the audience or listener.

I also note that there is still a sense of humor in the lyrics, as comedy is often the most effective messenger in drama: "the hard drive with your student film" and "that unfinished screenplay" both mine LA clichés and reflect on the importance of preserving our own creative work.