B-Side Guys

Stories become survival tools when Anna Tivel examines how humans create meaning from chaos through deliberate narrative construction. “Animal Poem” operates as meditation on storytelling as essential life skill, exploring how we “map our understanding in ever changing narrative” to make existence bearable. The Portland songwriter has crafted something that functions as both folk song and philosophical treatise, proving that artistic ambition and accessibility aren’t mutually exclusive.

Tivel’s opening image—”courage is a tired mom, milk crate and a cardboard sign”—establishes her particular genius for finding profound truth in specific detail. Rather than abstract discussion of bravery, she locates courage in concrete circumstance where someone creates hopeful narrative for their child despite desperate conditions. This approach distinguishes her work from folk music that trades in generalities rather than lived experience.

Sam Weber’s co-production serves Tivel’s storytelling priorities perfectly, creating instrumental space that supports rather than competes with her lyrical density. The indie folk framework provides familiar foundation for unfamiliar philosophical territory, allowing listeners to absorb complex ideas through accessible musical delivery. Each verse builds conceptual weight without sacrificing emotional connection.

Her exploration of choice becomes the song’s emotional center. “You can be someone who loves, or you can be somebody else” presents life’s fundamental decision with devastating simplicity. This isn’t naive optimism but hard-won recognition that love requires conscious effort in world designed to encourage selfishness. The repetition of this choice throughout the song emphasizes its ongoing nature rather than one-time commitment.

The album context—arriving during “venomous division” and “technological advance”—explains the song’s urgency about narrative construction. Tivel understands that story-making isn’t luxury but necessity when reality feels unbearable. Her acknowledgment that “we’ll never get it right, but the attempt is everything” provides framework for creative persistence despite inevitable failure.

“Animal Poem” succeeds because Tivel treats ordinary human beings as worthy of poetic attention, recognizing that everyone lives creative life whether they identify as artist or not.