Mirah

Note: The LP version of this EP includes a digital download code + four bonus tracks!

Mirah met Jherek Bischoff in Seattle in 2007. Having an instant affinity, they worked and played together on various projects over the years.

Fast forward to early 2016 when Mirah was asked by BRIC Arts/Media House in  Brooklyn to create a show for their spring season. She immediately contacted Jherek to see if he would write string arrangements for the performance and was met with an enthusiastic ‘Yes!’. After choosing the songs, Jherek's composition process was swift and inspired and the two soon found themselves with an album’s worth of string quartet arrangements.

The two decided to tour the project immediately following the aforementioned BRIC show. It had been a dream they shared to tour with a string quartet, and by planning the tour as a co-bill, both using the generous talents of the string players, they were both able to realize this dream. Never one to do things in the normal order, it was only after the shows were over that it dawned on Mirah to make a record of all this beautiful stuff. In August of 2016 the strings, electric bass and percussion were recorded live at Shahzad Ismaily’s Figure 8 studio in Brooklyn. Vocals and guitar were tracked a few weeks later with producer Eli Crews. Both Mirah and Jherek wanted the album to be much less produced than her other recent recordings so they chose to maintain a live feel for the strings, and used only minimal effects and doubling for the vocals and guitar.

With the exception of “Sundial” each of these songs has appeared on a previous recordings, now with new breath breathed into them by the unique and varied arrangements. “Sundial was written on a bright full moon night while I was on residency at The Headlands Center for the Arts in Marin, California . It’s about plants. It’s what I hear them saying in response to human denial of the interdependence of life on this planet.”

The exceptional performances on this record include Jherek Bishoff’s signature Hofner bass, first violin by New Amsterdam recording artist and Contemporaneous Orchestra  founding member Finnegan Shanahan, second violin by Warp Trio’s Josh Henderson, viola by Tredici Bacci’s Abby Swidler, cello by Warp Trio’s Ju Young Lee, percussion by the impeccably talented Oakland-based Andrew Maguire and percussion and backing vocals by Brooklyn’s own Maia Macdonald.

Additional Information

The 7 song Sundial E.P. is being released as a limited edition 12-inch clear vinyl record on Mirah’s own imprint, Absolute Magnitude Recordings.

The front and back cover feature artwork by artist Serra Victoria Bothwell Fels.

Four bonus tracks, including “The Country of the Future” which was recently featured in Jill Soloway’s criticallly acclaimed t.v. series I Love Dick, will be available digitally to those who purchase the entire digital E.P. or one of the 1000 vinyl copies.