Mirah had a “practice tour” with a softly- lit red velvet curtained backdrop at the The Western,, an ideal setting to debut new material from her upcoming album Changing Light as well as re-imagining her back catalog. Mirah and her newest entourage: Alex Guy (violin/viola/keys/vocals), Dan Fabricant (bass/guitar) and Andrew Maguire (drums/ vibraphone) opened the set with the goth caberet of “Bones and Skins” from her last album (A) Spera, crooning lyrics “Inside a graveyard opening” as Guy backed her up on grandiose violin and vocals. Announcing she had a “lotta new songs”, she nodded along as she delved into “Goat Shephard” clapping out her chorus “I’m losin control” to the bare keys of the vibraphone for most of the song shifting to a shimmery drum. Mirah paused to ask “Just think! You don’t know these songs– shift out your thinking about a show, can you do that, just… change?”
I heard that it is that easy, just to change” with a soft smile as she showcased “Radiomind”, a cooing homage to audiophilia with “old tapes/ old mistakes”, a ‘90s alterna update heavily reminiscent of the classic Carpenters ditty “Yesterday Once More.” Turning to selections from her collaboration with Thao she trotted out “Little Cups”, a jangly galloping drum beat that thumped as she dusted her lilting vocals leading to “24th Street”, a new track, was a song full of emotive sighs and breathy “hi-hi”s felt more of a sketch than a completed project melting into “Halllejuah,” a camp-side rhythmic jaunt (also from Thao) where the absence of drums showcased the guitar work.
“Gold Rush” and “Oxen Hope” from her upcoming Changing Light had a defiant edge, a roughness juxtaposed with the soft strings, alternating a hard clapping drum with wistful lyrics such as “striking the final blow” and “hold me/like I’m your girl” creating a soulful, warm sound. “Dogs of Ba” snapped back the audience with imagery of an “Argentian sky” as she “la-la”’ed her way through a slow mambo heating up to “Rubies and Rocks” channeling funk as the violen and percussion recreated a disco tempo as she prompted the audience to clap and dance as she gleefully beat a tambourine. Leaving with a low key number, the grungy sludgy tinge of “Mt. St. Helen“ bled discord into feedback with “We were alone there/ There was still hope there” felt a step back from the progressive new material..
The encore was the fun, ragtime swinging ditty “Words Cannot Describe” with cute lyrics such as “Wishing on a star to be with you” and “Words cannot describe/ the twinkle in your eye” as she danced around the stage while Guy hopped on drums and Maguire dusted the vibraphone for her sweet wrap up. Mirah’s voice is truly the bonding cement as this set crossed over different genres, spanning an “aw shucks” quiet folk stylings to a souful blues bombasticness to a latin rhythm. It didn’t feel quite cohesive, which isn’t such a bad thing, but often felt cheated with the reliance Mirah had on cooing and repetitive sounds instead of her smart lyrics projecting restrained, delicate emotiveness (hence hardly any songs from her earliest albums) . Overall, the depth of the musicians brought alive her established songs and the excitement of new material was palatable to her audience, showing perhaps it isn’t so hard to “just change”.
