Summer Concerts in NYC starting with Mirah and Spectratone

by Andy Sosnowski in Album Reviews

Thurs May 29, Mirah and Spectratone will perform together with Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet as a part of the river to river festival in New York City (see http://www.rivertorivernyc.com/events). Here is a review of their latest CD, Share this Place.

This is an ambitious adventurous concept album by Mirah and Spectratone International (the original work was commissioned for an art gallery and included animation). These are songs written from the point of view of insects with accompaniment by a “chamber” group (of accordion, string instruments and percussion).
Mirah’s voice can be stunning and passionate; the music is complex and unpredictable with sudden major shifts.

This album took a while to grow on me. Some of the songs feel too expository whereas others, where it feels like the lyrics music and instrumentation mesh, are exceptionally lovely. Many songs are based on dance forms and are surprisingly successfully danceable!

I would like to see a little more explanation of these songs; I feel like I may be missing something although I do like some mystery; the lyrics quoted below are by ear and may not be entirely correct; I was not able to make out the lyrics to some songs in their entirety.

My favorite songs are Luminescence (a love song with a relaxed Samba style where the voice and Accordion and humor of the lyrics shine) which starts:

Luminescence is ours; don’t need a reason …
shine like a beacon; I’ve got the brilliance to let him know
I am so ready to glow
This light is soft in the night like a sigh

brilliantly I oxidize
a belly fully of bright

Then there is Love Song of the Fly (another stimulatingly unusual love song between a fly and a human that has a beautiful romantic guitar intro):

I permit myself the nearness of you
Even just the scent of what you left behind
sends me in circles of lust
Please render me adoringly

Oh, why do you despise me, only criticize me
A Love that resides in kaleidescope eyes
you only think me base and dirty
you multiplying in my eyes

Ecclycis is tango-like (how can you not like a song with a name like this?)

Upside down, split from the ground
insides out and gyrate?
I begin to pupate
cause all my tissues to rearrange
green and gold is getting old
prepare to know my indigo
I’m getting out, I’m getting out

My Lord Who Hums (great atmospheric accompaniment) goes:

If I am killed and not understood
You will never learn what you could
I am the Lord of the flies
I have been swallowed and rebirthed
I am your kin

Supper (another song in dance form) goes as follows:

My villainy is rare
just like any other gadabout
I vanquish you with kisses, a dubious caress
in truth it is a poison
Liquefaction is a skill which I possess

Another is Song of Psyche (again Accordion and percussion and the concept shine).
Emergence of the Primary Larva is fresh-sounding.

In short I give this album the highest rating, for it’s ambition and freshness. It may not all be immediately accessible but is well worth spending time with. It is as strong as Mirahs’s previous album Advisory Committee. Give it a chance to grow on you too!