Songfacts®:

• This was released as the lead singer from A Fine Frenzy's third album, Pines. Sole A Fine Frenzy member Alison Sudol explained in an interview with Anthropologie: "The entire record is a story, and each song is a chapter that leads into the next. It's the first time I've done anything like it. We recorded the album live, which was incredibly freeing. You can feel the room, the instruments, the breathing, my foot on the piano pedal. You can hear all the bumps and creaks of my voice - not perfect at all, but human and real."
• The song is both the penultimate track on Pines and also its most upbeat cut. Sudol explained to Billboard magazine: "Initially 'It's Alive' was kind of the peak of the record. It was kind of the big moment - and yet that song is a little bit laidback. And I wanted there to be just an explosive, happy moment on the record. That's where 'Now Is the Start' came in."