In
Music We Trust review of Apart:
http://www.inmusicwetrust.com/articles/51e01.html
In
Music We Trust interview: (this is a good one too..)
http://www.inmusicwetrust.com/articles/51h05.html
A
review on Starvox.com
~reviewed
by Matthew
I despise the spring time. It is almost a greater mockery than
the summer. Everyone is running around commenting on how blue
the sky is, flowers are poking through to provide taunting colour
to the brilliant green of the grass, and everyone is just so damned
perky. My isolation and misery is doubled and I can find no peace
save for the privacy of my own home. Sometimes. Regardless, I
have been oblivious to whether the sun is beaming its golden death
upon the world outside or if belated April showers have obscured
it. Thanks to the second full-length offering from Mira, the latest
of several Projekt releases this year, it’s been raining
constantly in my little world.
I love this CD. I have listened to it consistently and repetitively
since it arrived in my mailbox earlier last month. My musical
preferences can be so manic, but this is exactly what my parched
and jaded soul yearned for after a grueling semester at college.
This music is mature and very calming. It does not contain the
cartoonish qualities of most new Goth/Industrial music crossing
my desk of late. Furthermore, the music is produced by real flesh
and blood people rather than machines, which yields to an organic
and more sentimental outcome still lacking in most of the current
‘buzz worthy’ dark music. The emotion is intense and
permeates the entire CD, but it is not too harsh. This collection
of gloom is just right, lush rather than abrasive, reflective
and romantic as opposed to desolate or misanthropic. This is the
kind of dark music that one can listen to and not feel like an
angsting teenager but rather an adult with a creative or brooding
artistic mindset. With every day that passes, I gravitate more
toward this type of shoegaze/emo/indie whatever the hell alternative
music that has a similar sound to this is.
Within the music of Mira, there are morsels of The Cranberries,
Slowdive, Lush, Cocteaus; all those lovely rainy day bands. The
drumming is rhythmic, sometimes tribal, sometimes a post-rock
groove, but always fantastic and precise. The guitar work varies
between murky strums, watery arpeggios, and sonic fuzz explosions
and the bass provides a thick backbone with several noticeable
fills as this style would call for. However, the buoyant vocals
of Regina Sosinski seem to be the most appetizing ingredient for
the common Projekt fan. Lilting and feathery, her vocals drift
and coast above the music, similar to the ghostly voice of label
mate Suzanne Perry from Love Spirals Downwards. Regina has quite
a range, having a childlike innocence in her softer moments but
letting her real strength soar in more dynamic crescendos where
her voice boasts a powerful resonance. Like other admirable female
vocalists, her voice is also riddled with the same kind of desperate
‘catch’ that accentuates the emotional impact of her
performances.
The powerful female voice in the lead is going to sell many records,
but Mira’s solid musicianship should not be overlooked either.
Though the tempo and style does not often deviate much from a
slower ‘shoegaze’ formula, this is a very convincing
record. All the elements weave together perfectly and create an
engrossing yet relatively easy listen once you allow the music
to conquer you. I highly recommend this to fans of pensive alt
rock and I also recommend the album’s fluid opening track
“Space” to DJ’s who still care enough to build
atmosphere in the early hours of their respective club nights.
Apparently,
people dig Mira’s hypnotizing strains, as “Apart”
was not only Projekt’s top seller for April, but several
tracks have been igniting the Mp3.com Shoegazer charts since the
album’s release. Check this out, hush the springtime sun,
and enjoy the rain…
From
Swizzle-Stick
Mira: Millvale Industrial Theatre, Pittsburgh, PA, August 8, 2001
A ridiculously hot and humid evening at the Millvale
Industrial Theatre featured a Projekt double-bill with Pittsburgh's
Lowsunday opening up for FL's Mira. Neither of these bands fits
the darkwave image one might have of Projekt as both bands are
practitioners of the shoegazery noise. Lowsunday played a half
hour set in the oven that is the MIT. Mostly songs from their
CD entitled Elesgiem, though I think they uncorked a brand new
song as well. They were good, but I think I would have liked to
lop a minute or two from some of the songs. They will likely grow
on me.
By this time, my super-sized bottle of water had long since vanished.
Luckily,
Mira was onstage and ready to go within about twenty minutes.
Mira mostly featured songs from their latest CD "Apart",
though they pulled "Cayman" from their first album and
also covered a tune from fellow Tallahassee residents Cream Abdul
Babar. "Stainless" and "Plastique" were fantastic.
Best of all was "Space", with both Tom Parker and Mark
Davidson working their guitars at full throttle. One with machine
gun shoe rapidity that formed the underlayer and the other shimmering
to make Robin Guthrie proud. Regina Sosinki's vocals just seem
to float o'er the music. Unfortunately the vocal channel seemed
a little muffled most of the evening. All tolled, a fine performance.
(Tom LaBue)
A
review from Kult
ov Bela
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).
Alot more reviews collected by Sam and Lisa at Projekt:
A
review from Outburn Magazine #16
PAINFULLY SWEET SHOEGAZER POP: | 4 out of 5 | Mira's sophomore
release, Apart, paints a soundscape deep in swirling guitar washes,
rumbling bass and drums, splashed with the blissfully sweet soprano
voice of Regina Sosinski. Leaping forward with a release much
more ambitious than their self-titled Projekt debut, Apart ventures
into territory that seemingly justifies its position on the Projekt
roster. Not to understate the talent of musicians that solidify
Mira, it cannot go without noting that the true highlight of this
band is Sosinski's gorgeous voice. Each track becomes a swirling
storm of disjointed musical trauma, held glued together only by
the heartbroken crooning of her shattered emotional shell. Sosinski's
feelings have been hurt, crushed by the loneliness of pain and
the sorrow of mistakes made by herself and others. The emotional
epics in Apart are bittersweet, ranging from the self-forgiving
"Plastique," to the all out rock mayhem of "Space."
"Stainless" stands out as a begging for understanding,
rising into a crescendo rich in mayhem and fragility. The guitar
work on Apart adheres to no strict rule book, meandering in multiple
directions, crossing endlessly, reaching for somewhere to go,
yet never achieving a final destination. Truly a remarkable album,
Apart recreates a sound reminiscent of the heydey of 4AD, prodding
the listeners to become nostalgic to the sounds of Cocteau Twins,
Lush, and My Bloody Valentine. Apart closes with "Hollow,"
an emotionally charged song that builds into an aural hurricane,
finally dissipating into a calm that leaves you wanting more.
- Joseph Graham
A review from Alternative Press #158 Sept 2001
Overcast and melancholy, just the way we like it. | 7 out of 10
| It would be too easy to describe Mira as what you'd get if you
spliced together elements from Cocteau Twins, the Sundays and
Starflyer 59. Mira bring their own brand of shoegazing goth to
the equation, in many ways picking up where those other bands
left off. Adding to the lexicon of doomed love, Regina Sosinki's
vocals light the way through the murk of melancholia, nearly rivaling
Liz Fraser and Harriet Wheeler both artistically and emotionally.
The heady mix of ethereal vocals and rich guitars with unusual
rhythms and off-meter inflections makes Apart a distinctive album
in its own right. - Mark Burbey
A review from England's Meltdown Magazine
(4 out of 5 - genre: darkwave indie/ethereal) Imagine The Cure
crossed with Cocteau Twins and you've got Mira. Ice-cold, glass-shattering
female vocals piercing through a wall of electric guitars and
drums with some darn good, fringe-flopping tunes. Influence-wise,
you've obviously got the aformentioned and a good bit of psychedelic
rock, some Throwing Muses and maybe a touch of Radiohead? It reminds
me of the good indie stuff that hit the UK scene in the latter
part of the 80s, early 90s - the stuff that got buried under the
debris of E-fuelled trance and the heroin-doused Hacienda produce.
It's good to see a band resurrecting it and so successfully modernising
it for the 21st century. - Natasha Scharf
A review from ink19.com
The harder you listen to Mira, the deeper you fall for them. Maybe
it's Regina Sosinski's spellbindingly gorgeous voice, feeling
like the name of heaven in your ears or the irresistible demon
of ecstasy dancing in your bones. Or the shimmering shoegazer
guitars, building to a feedback-frenzied roar, then ebbing to
the echo of a ringing whisper left behind in an empty room. Or
maybe it's the incredible intensity of the group as a whole, words
and music blurring together in your staggered mind, leaving you
with a total mystery too painfully beautiful to solve.
Whatever it is, once you've heard Mira, there's no going back.
Apart is even better than their self-titled debut (released on
Projekt last year), which I thought was pretty amazing. There's
not a bad track on this album; indeed, once you're submerged in
Mira's world, it's hard to tell where one track ends and the next
nightmare dream begins. The opening "Space" is as good
a place to start as any. Quiet electronics begin the piece, then
the drums crash in, bass rumbles beneath, and guitars feed back,
then explode in cascades of brilliance washing over everything,
notes trickling down like silvery rain. Regina's voice comes in
lovely and fragile, and everything else hushes for a moment; but
even when the music roars back in full riot, Regina's voice floats
free and crystal clear above it, remembering the regrets of the
past, and wondering if the vast cold space stretching ahead to
tomorrow will make things any different.
Throughout
this album, the guitar work just blows me away. On "Going
Nowhere," the guitars muse, meander, and wander everywhere
and nowhere, like lost souls looking for themselves on every rain-washed
city street, but finding only empty sidewalks and oily puddles.
And on "Stainless," they start out ringing hypnotically,
then slip into an all-out assault on your senses, marking you
from head to toe with the indelible stains you know are there,
even if no one else can see them.
Bottom
line: buy this album. But don't expect to get it out of your head
anytime soon.
- Dave Aftandilian
A
review from The Sentimentalist
From Heartbreak to Yearning in a Stirring Song This new release
brings Mira's energy level up a few notches since their previous
work, perhaps leaving their "shoegazer" tag a memory
of the past. Guitars are edgier, with certain moody melodies coming
to the forefront with emotive, aggressive appeal. Regina's vocals
provide an honest, intimate sparkle on every track, a clever blend
of highs, whispers, and lulling refrains. Though one might hear
certain Cranberries or Cardigans influences, Mira has their own
varied sound which sets them apart. Tracks such as "In Theory"
and "Green" are glowing respites from stormier songs
such as "Space" or "Going Nowhere," yet none
are without their own wondrous internal emotional arcs. From song
to song, one finds the perfect balance between torrential upheaval
and comforting release. The band has certainly discovered a way
to translate all the subtleties of their feelings into music.
It is a true pleasure to follow the sound-swept journey of their
thoughts.
- MVW
A review from allmusic.com
4 stars out of 4 AMG EXPERT REVIEW: Apart is the second full-length
from Florida's Mira, an indie pop band that's big on drums, sparkling
guitars, catchy songwriting, and gorgeous singing from Regina
Sosinski. At a time when rock music has moved away from its center
-- the place of longing that prompted Chuck Berry to pen "Maybellene,"
George Harrison to sing "While My Guitar Gently Weeps,"
Pete Townshend to write "Love Reign O'er Me," Ian Curtis
to sing "Love Will Tear Us Apart," the Jesus and Mary
Chain to compose the entire Darklands album, Ride to compose their
first two glorious LPs, and Polly Harvey to record To Bring You
My Love -- Mira seek a place back in the heart of rock and pop.
Apart is a compendium of well-crafted songs that aren't afraid
to let the guitars blaze while keeping the hooks intact. Tracks
like "Going Nowhere" and "In Theory" reflect
their introspective themes by repetitive guitar lines and shimmering
atmospherics hovering about Sosinski's vocals. The subject matter
is dreary and lonely. These songs hurt, but they're far from dark
-- they express emotion without wallowing in it. The textures
the musicians provide their singer are contrasts she must contend
with, compelling her to rise up to the challenge of the subtle
yet ever-shifting rhythmic percussion attack and the glissando
guitars reaching toward a bliss clearly not reflected in the lyrics.
"Open in Silence" is the most hypnotic and sensual track
on the record; Sosinski lays herself bare by asking, "How
do you feel?" Guitars play inside and on top of one another,
single-line riffing it as she emotes, expressing her need in the
mist they create. Percussion shifts itself to compensate and underlines
the physicality and spiritual manifestations of her longing before
the guitars crunch it all home, pulling off the mask and underlining
the sensate truth in the lyrics. Mira has moved toward something
far more organic, far more seductive, threatening, and honest,
and with Apart, its emotionally searing echoes remain long after
the music has ceased to play.
- Thom Jurek
A review from a Dutch E-zine
Proposition: the serious music lover cannot live without internet
these days. Proof? Mira, with their second album "Apart".
You won't find this in any record store, but the band has been
able to develop an enthousiastic following through the Projekt
label and their own cyber activities. And rightly so. The lead
singer of the band is Regina Sosinski, who with her soft, clear
voice sings against thick layers of shoe-gazing guitars, every
now and then with rough, razorsharp edges. Although the concept
in itself isn't new, Mira have been able to achieve an astounding
level. The music is tight and consitant, recognisable, with beautiful
intonations and exactly the right amount of diversity. On top
of that Mira does not fall into the trap of false sentiments and
beguilement like Belgium's K's Choice, or of smoothed out, slick
pretention. "Apart" is the most authentic guitar album
that has sufaced in recent years. Period.
Thanks to Sven, for the translation!
A review from gothicparadise.com
If you were impressed with their debut album, you will not be
disappointed with a more mature sound from this excellent goth/shoegaze
group's follow-up album. apart is a combination of all the different
aspects of shoegaze rock with it's moody lyrics, grinding guitars
and of course, the wonderful angelic voice of Regina Sosinski!
Starting off the album is a potential gothic club hit, "space."
With it's out-of-this-world sound it really moves you with the
catchy rhythm and grinding guitars. But once again, it's Regina's
voice that just carries the entire feeling and body of this track.
With catchy guitars in the vein of old U2, a very nice tempo and
a lot of emotion, it may just leave you too dazed on the dance
floor to even dance.
This
entire album takes you back and forth through all the different
emotions you can experience. From the utter dazed, dreamy feeling
as you float through the air of the music to the dark despair
of agony and pain in the mournful lyrics. The tempo varies from
track to track and the intensity leaves you feeling like you've
been on an emotional roller coaster. What an intense feeling.
You can't get this feeling unless you really listen to the music,
the lyrics and soak in the beautiful voice like soaking in the
rays of sun on the beach.
Several
songs will carry you through all of these stages I've described
above. One of the prime examples of this variation is "in
theory." Starting it very slow and mournful, quiet and dreamy
it gradually picks up on the intensity. Then towards the end the
distorted, grinding guitar kicks off the finale of the song with
Regina's voice carrying the thick, moody feeling straight to your
heart. Other songs like "green" and "going nowhere"
are a little more consistent throughout but still hold you captivated.
I
could go on and on describing each song, each feeling, each captivating
chord, note and emotion this entire album presents. I just don't
think I can do it justice. In comparing it with their previous
work, I would have to say their overall sound has improved a bit,
showing a little bit more emotion than before. However, I must
say that I still have not found an equal to "Cayman."
Although several tracks on this album come really close to holding
me breathless like that one track does. I highly recommend it
to anyone who enjoyed their first album, you will love this one.
If you haven't heard mira's spellbinding sound yet, you do not
know what you're missing.
-Jacob
A review from The Guardian series of Newspapers,
England
I first discovered the delights of Mira on mp3.com’s shoegazing
chart. Hailing from Tallahassee, Florida, USA the band make a
type of music more usually associated with British indie bands
in the early 90s, influenced primarily by My Bloody Valentine.
Mira are signed to American label Projekt, a label which is most
commonly associated with beautifully produced melancholy music,
often with a female singer. But Mira play upbeat music, in the
musical if not the emotional sense. It is the sort of music for
people who like to think about things. They do have a female singer
though.
Opening
song "Space" has a guitar part spookily reminiscent
of early 90s scallies The Farm’s song "The Groovy Train",
though the mood is more in keeping with bands of the same era
such as Slowdive or Lush. You certainly won’t get Mira imploring
to "Get on, get on, the groovy train". "Open In
Silence" has guitars like The Cure in their quieter moments,
though Mira’s singer, Regina Sosinski, is more like a lucid
Alison Shaw of The Cranes than Robert Smith.
Mira
aren’t yet treading new ground, their influences are clear,
yet on the other hand what they do is so completely different
from what is popular at the moment I can’t help but see this
album as a breath of fresh air in an increasingly stagnant pop
world.
A review from MediaPlus magazine
Listening to Mira is like sitting dead center in the middle of
a hurricane. A peaceful tranquility surrounds you yet there also
exists a total, whirling chaos, pulling at you from every direction.
Get it spinning in your CD player and you will immediately feel
its tremendous swirling, magnetic power.
At some point, a writer somewhere coined the term - shoegazer.
This was meant to describe a band's sound as being tranceful and
intensely guitar layered. Soon after, another writer extended
the shoegazer term to - female shoegazer, which meant shoegazer
but with ethereal, female vocals on top of the whirling guitars.
Today
MediaPlus will extend, on behalf of the band Mira, the shoegazer
term once again. The new term is now: shoestare-to-mind-control-levels.
Or Mindshoecontrol, for short. What this means exactly is that
not only has Mira focused on developing the shoegazer approach
towards their music, but they have the ethereal female vocals
worked out perfectly too. In fact, they have gone so far beyond
the typical female shoegazer type of creation they are now expelling
music that is so shoegazingly intense that we honestly believe
vocalist, Regina Sosinski, may, in fact, be trying to use mind
control on the shoes she is gazing at. It wouldn't surprise us
in-the-least to see Mira performing live and to see the band staring
at their shoes while their laces fly about and their shoes change
colors during the show.
Apart
is Mira's second release on Projekt. Their first, self-titled
CD, was equally filled with gifted use of Regina's voice and the
band's instrument control. Although there are a few new members
now, Mira is still a wispy, I'm-singing-like-a-tiny-helpless-young-girl-who-has-lost-her-dog
type of band (ala The Sundays or The Moon Seven Times (but with
more tranceful guitar melodies). They weave in and out of strong
melodic structure and withering guitar works so well that it leaves
you daydreaming, fantasizing and thinking of either better tomorrows
or yesterdays that might not have gone so well or will be or were
tremendously wonderful. Mira is not an inbetweenish type of band
but more so, an extreme high or extreme low. That thing smiling
in the middle, is you. - David Paul Wyatt Perko
For our French speaking fans
A review from lefantastique.net
Apart, le deuxième album des américains de Mira,
porte bien son nom. S'ouvrant sur un hit sucré et bondissant
(Space), il offre ensuite une collection de chansons émouvantes
et aériennes. Tantôt portée par des accords
cristallins, tantôt soutenue par des guitares gentiment
noisy, la voix angélique de Regina Sosinski envoûte
et emmène son auditeur dans des contrées nostalgiques.
Sensuelle et expressive, en totale symbiose avec la six cordes,
elle donne l'ivresse dans la valse hypnotique de Plastique. Malgré
la séduction immédiate exercée par Apart,
chaque pièce qui la compose ne se livre qu'avec patience,
à l'instar de la perle Tick Tock. Mira rappelle Cocteau
Twins, le meilleur des Cranberries et surtout les Sundays et n'aurait
pas détonné dans l'écurie 4AD des années
'80 et '90 (les points de comparaison entre Projekt et le prestigieux
label britannique sont d'ailleurs nombreux). Apart distille une
atmosphère doucement douloureuse comme un amour qui se
termine. Rarement textes et musiques se seront rencontrés
avec une telle harmonie car Regina nous conte justement des histoires
de ruptures et de déceptions cruelles dont on ne sait si
on aimerait être l'acteur - Frédéric Cotton
June
2001 Electroage review
Apart
is an instantly comfortable album, comfortable in it’s sheer
sense of nostalgia. An emotionally heady collection of dark pop
songs; churning bass, sparkling clear guitars alternating between
driving aggression and fragile sadness, and enthusiastically emotive
drumming all led by wistfully gorgeous vocals of Regina Sosinski.
There is an overwhelming sincerity and honesty to Mira; their
pained and yearning songs burn with nothing but pure emotion and
personality. This is not pretentious goth-rock, but simply the
music of five people with a creative common ground, playing the
music that is true to them.
The ten songs comprising Apart seem parts of a whole, there are
no obvious attempts at a single or club hit, but each song is
intrinsic to the album, and pulling it apart seems futile. Apart
moves from tempest to dead calm, from blistering fire to gently
rolling beauty and introspection. Mira have created an aural travelogue
of the heart, which gives the album it’s comfortable sound,
it’s like wrapping yourself in an old familiar blanket or
returning to a previous home, now fallen into neglected ruin.
Apart is a rush of forgotten emotions and thoughts all coming
back in a heaving torrent; not something easily accomplished.
Since this album was released it has been causing waves of adoration
and much has been said to the credit of the band, all of which
is well-deserved. Mira are forging ahead with a sound that merges
the angst and bitternes with sadness and reflection, all fields
of music that will be immediately familiar to many of Mira’s,
and Projekt’s, audience. These are the sounds many of us
grew up with, that guided our lives through joy and pain, now
presented with brilliant honesty and integrity. Apart is nothing
short of an impressive release that grows greater with every listen.
8/11/99
Bag Press: A Cat-Shaped Hole In My Heart
4/10/00
Interview with Grave Concerns
May
2000 Alternative Press Low Profile
reviewed
by David Slatton
Listening
to the melancholy songs of Mira, it's hard to believe the band
reside in Tallahassee, Florida. Sun, fun and college parties don't
usually encourage somber introspection, but away from the local
clubs and bars featuring hard rock and ska bands, Mira's wounded
lyrics and lush guitars have attracted quite a following.
"I
don't really know why people like our songs," says singer
Regina Sosinski. "I think they identify with the emotion
and the music, because we are definitely not a band people come
and mosh to."
The
quartet's eponymous debut (on Projekt) sounds more like a Slowdive-inspired
soundtrack for nights of quiet contemplation. The swirling guitars
of Tom Parker and Mark Davidson and the downtempo percussion of
Alan Donaldson provide the backdrop for Sosinski's yearning vocals.
"I
tend to be more withdrawn, and that's something I've been dealing
with lately," says the singer. "Trying to open up and
tear down internal boundaries I have and realize we are all the
same inside."
After
exploring the mournful depths of the human soul, what direction
will Mira take next?
"Our
songs are getting happier," Sosinski says. "I'm just
not in a down period of my life now. The new stuff will be more
about people and life."
May
2000 Ink 19 review
Mira
is the kind of debut CD that makes me hope like hell there's a
follow-up coming from the band very soon. Unlike most of Projekt's
roster, Tallahassee-based Mira doesn't fit in the gothic ambient
mold, although you can maybe hear some of labelmate Love Spirals
Downwards in Mira's fuzzed-out guitars paired with gorgeous female
vocals (the much-lamented Moon Seven Times might be another fair
point of comparison). Current critical pigeonholing would probably
slide Mira into the "shoegazer" box, but that just doesn't
capture the raw emotional power of the album to suck you in and
spit you out staggering in wonder at the end.
Whatever
you want to call Mira's music, it's breathtaking. Take "Cayman,"
for instance, which starts with solo bass, then kicks in shimmering
guitars, drums, and Regina Sosinski's paradoxical voice, sometimes
small and vulnerable, sometimes confident and defiant, but always
lovely. The song builds up a wall of fuzzed-out guitar and pounding
drums, knocks it all down to a gentle strumming, then throws it
back up again, just one example of the awesome range and control
of dynamics that runs throughout the album.
My
favorite track, though, is "Real," a breakup song that
kicks the usual wounded mopiness in the ass, focusing instead
on the frustrating mix of anger/pain/sadness/confusion that all
too often marks the end of something that might once have been
beautiful, or might have been shit from the start. Quick-strummed
nervous guitar with dark undertones of bass sliding underneath
becomes a seething sea of sound, heavy waves of distorted guitar
and drums alternating with gentle picking and strumming, slowly
receding till only the solo lonely voice is left, repeating a
mantra of love and loss, then nothing, nothing at all.
4/21/00
Spin.com's review of 'Real'
reviewed
byTania Biswas (tania@quentincrisp.com)
There
are certain moods to which different songs and bands adapt in
each individual's mind. Or maybe it seems like that for those
of us who are pseudo-intellectual to a fault. Still, sometimes
it is the listener's mood that makes a song; you may hear a song
that's good but not be able to distinguish it from others in its
genre. For example, unless you listen carefully, most songs in
the gothic, techno, shoegaze categories may all sound alike in
the long run, whether it be due to the songs themselves or the
genres' stereotypes. Yet there are times when, you may hear that
indistinguishably good song in a particular mood, upon which occasion,
you become hypersensitive to the way the song snakes around you
and tightens its hold. It's like both you and the track having
x-ray vision; because it is so perfectly attuned to the way you
feel, you hear the subtle minefields of emotion that exist upon
the present soundscape.
Such
is where the extraordinariness of Tallahassee's Mira lies. The
comparisons to The Cranberries are rather unmistakable at first
listen and influences that range from Slowdive and The Cocteau
Twins to early Cardigans (minus the kitsch) span the entire album.
You can throw Mira's derivations left and right if you want, but
then that would be missing the point. The band's eponymous debut
is like cyanide; the initial strains of the album may leave the
impression of well-intentioned, harmless, ethereal dabbling, not
unlike the taste of almonds. But savor the record and it brings
on an insidious, poisonous falling into guitar-wound songs washed
with vocalist Regina Sosinski's soaring-into-the-depths soprano.
"Real" inches forward with Sosinki's ominous pondering
and a poignant guitar melody before exploding into erratic, dark
bursts of percussion-backed chorus. Being hypnotically held down
by the guitar and Cure-esque drumming of this song, you struggle
between the bonds of the song (and your own emotions) around your
wrists and the vocal angelics that call you up into the distance.
You fight, you struggle, and you always willingly lose to the
totality of the song and the moods it either creates or helps
to further. Someone once told me, "It's not just about...songs."
But sometimes, especially in the case of Mira, it is.
May
2000 Alternative Press Low Profile
reviewed
by David Slatton
Listening
to the melancholy songs of Mira, it's hard to believe the band
reside in Tallahassee, Florida. Sun, fun and college parties don't
usually encourage somber introspection, but away from the local
clubs and bars featuring hard rock and ska bands, Mira's wounded
lyrics and lush guitars have attracted quite a following.
"I
don't really know why people like our songs," says singer
Regina Sosinski. "I think they identify with the emotion
and the music, because we are definitely not a band people come
and mosh to."
The
quartet's eponymous debut (on Projekt) sounds more like a Slowdive-inspired
soundtrack for nights of quiet contemplation. The swirling guitars
of Tom Parker and Mark Davidson and the downtempo percussion of
Alan Donaldson provide the backdrop for Sosinski's yearning vocals.
"I
tend to be more withdrawn, and that's something I've been dealing
with lately," says the singer. "Trying to open up and
tear down internal boundaries I have and realize we are all the
same inside."
After
exploring the mournful depths of the human soul, what direction
will Mira take next?
"Our
songs are getting happier," Sosinski says. "I'm just
not in a down period of my life now. The new stuff will be more
about people and life."
May
2000 Ink 19 review
Mira
is the kind of debut CD that makes me hope like hell there's a
follow-up coming from the band very soon. Unlike most of Projekt's
roster, Tallahassee-based Mira doesn't fit in the gothic ambient
mold, although you can maybe hear some of labelmate Love Spirals
Downwards in Mira's fuzzed-out guitars paired with gorgeous female
vocals (the much-lamented Moon Seven Times might be another fair
point of comparison). Current critical pigeonholing would probably
slide Mira into the "shoegazer" box, but that just doesn't
capture the raw emotional power of the album to suck you in and
spit you out staggering in wonder at the end.
Whatever
you want to call Mira's music, it's breathtaking. Take "Cayman,"
for instance, which starts with solo bass, then kicks in shimmering
guitars, drums, and Regina Sosinski's paradoxical voice, sometimes
small and vulnerable, sometimes confident and defiant, but always
lovely. The song builds up a wall of fuzzed-out guitar and pounding
drums, knocks it all down to a gentle strumming, then throws it
back up again, just one example of the awesome range and control
of dynamics that runs throughout the album.
My
favorite track, though, is "Real," a breakup song that
kicks the usual wounded mopiness in the ass, focusing instead
on the frustrating mix of anger/pain/sadness/confusion that all
too often marks the end of something that might once have been
beautiful, or might have been shit from the start. Quick-strummed
nervous guitar with dark undertones of bass sliding underneath
becomes a seething sea of sound, heavy waves of distorted guitar
and drums alternating with gentle picking and strumming, slowly
receding till only the solo lonely voice is left, repeating a
mantra of love and loss, then nothing, nothing at all.
4/21/00
Spin.com's review of 'Real'