Review:
mira:apart
Tallahassee's most popular ethereal gothic band is at it again. Mira has released its second full length album, "apart," on Projekt records. A full sound built by a new line up (well, relatively speaking), and just like their first album, it's the first track, "space," that pulls me in and keeps me listening over and over again. If I play their music at Club Jade, the band prefers i play 'space,' "because, it's the most danceable." While it does have the rawkin' beat, the rest of the album has a more ethereal-shoegazer kind of danceability to it.
Even with this sort of composition on the album it is excellent for stay at home listening as well. A test I like to use on an album, which it passes easily, is earphone listening. The production on this, mostly done by Tom Parker as I understand it, is beautiful listening at any volume.
Comparisons have been made to Slowdive, which is not far from true, in the best possible way. Regina Sosinski's vocals gives Mira a strong though many times wanton voice. It floats and meanders at times while still grabbing the listener and anchoring them to the music.
If Regina's vocals serve to express the literal emotions of a song, the rest of the band completely build upon this and frequently take it to new ground. In tracks like 'stainless' and 'in theory' (who's lyrics I have to admit, I don't totally understand) the music builds at a perfect pace and strength to give the song a true reason. The fuzzy guitar and high end percussion/symbal work seem to shimmer and glide just above the vocals, adding to the headphone pleasure factor.
The ambient ethereal work that does seem common to the Projekt library abounds in another favorite track of mine, "plastique." As lovely as Regina's lyrics are, I almost want this one to be an entirely instrumental track.
Now i've done it, haven't finished the review and i don't have the cd to listen to right now. I will say this, anyone that enjoys a lush (not the band) sounding album produced by musicians who definitely listened to some early Joy Division and other early punk bands should own this cd...quit reading this and go buy it now. (you can get it from Projekt directly...go to our Links Page).
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