C'mon Miracle

Born under the kitchen table, Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn (thankfully known as MYTZ) began her musical journey as a member of a jazz band that played weddings around Olympia, Washington. Olympia legends Phil Elvrum and Calvin Johnson eventually began using Mirah’s sweet voice and broad musicianship on their recordings for Johnson’s K Records. After her significant contributions on Elvrum’s The Microphones projects, Elvrum supervised Mirah on creating her debut, You Think It’s Like This But It’s Really Like This, in 2000. The next year saw Elvrum again helping Mirah on her now underground classic Advisory Committee release. After a couple of years spent collaborating with various other artists, Mirah has now come back to Elvrum and Johnston for her third official album, C’Mon Miracle for K Records. 

Beginning with the short, charming “Nobody Has to Stay,” Mirah begins her latest efforts with a memorable, poetic opener on par with anything from her Advisory-era. The sparse arrangement sets up a quiet introduction for the purposefully-sloppy, slightly political “Jerusalem,” easily one of Mirah’s best moments to date due to it’s authentically conceived accessibility. Miracle isn’t a hard album to love; after a couple of listens things don’t feel as quiet and the arrangements only become more interesting.

The key, as has been the case with Mirah’s first two albums, is the production bliss Elvrum brings to Mirah’s unorthodox pop structures. On “The Light,” Elvrum contributes guitars, drums, and samples to Mirah’s gentle strumming and somewhat whimsical vocals, resulting in Miracle’s best track and some of the best production heard since Elvrum’s Mount Eerie days.

The Calvin Johnson-produced “Look Up!” revives the immediate rhythm blasts typical on any Johnson album, although this time things aren’t quite so blatantly sloppy. Johnson’s arrangement is the deepest yet in his catalog and works well as the album’s midpoint and probable single.

“We’re Both So Sorry” begins the second half of Miracle off in a very peculiar fashion. Mirah whispers, sings and speaks stories of betrayal and regret over what sounds like a continuation of the previously mentioned Mount Eerie album. Elvrum focuses on curious percussion techniques and twisting “horns,” eventually spiraling to the top of Mount Eerie and back down to Miracle. Not since Advisory Committee‘s “Cold Cold Water” has Mirah seemed so convinced of Elvrum’s odd genius.

“The Dogs of B.A.,” “You’ve Gone Away Enough” and “The Struggle” all work as interesting, quiet songwriter works but don’t quite live up to the higher moments already heard on the first half of the album. “Promise to Me” is a pretty piano ballad for the indie heart. Slight guitars accent the mournful playing of Warren Lee, while Mirah candidly sings “would promise to be kind, promise to be kind.”

“Exactly Where We’re From” brings Miracle to a somewhat victorious end. Mirah’s positive, sweet, love-struck songs balance elements of songwriter genre with concepts of experimental music. Without trying too hard, Mirah has released another great, yet flawed album of winter-time love songs. Also with Miracle the hope for more greatness from The Microphones collective continues.   8.5/10

Written by G. William Locke