Aspera

Mirah(a)speraAt first known as little more than a key contributor to Phil Elverum’s The Microphones albums, Portland-based songwriter Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn (but you can call her Mirah) has since carved out a nice niche for herself in the world of female experimentalists, her latest release, (a)spera, being her most revealing - and strangest - offering yet.

Back in 2002, when Elverum looked to be the next king and her crew of cast members seemed poised to follow, Mirah released the Elverum-produced Advisory Committee, her second release for K Records. Full of imagination, big productions and amazing vocal performances (think Bjork, but American and far more tame), the album worked as a perfect extension of Camp Elverum, working both as a critic’s darling and a fanbase-builder. (Album opener “Cold, Cold Water“ stands as one of this writer‘s favorite productions of the decade.) Two years later came the hotly anticipated follow-up, C’mon Miracle, a decent enough record that saw Elverum stepping back a bit and Mirah stepping up. The arrangements were - for the most part - simple and straight, almost the stuff of standard indie pop music. The five years since have seen Mirah taking her time crafting (a)spera, her fourth proper solo album, along the way releasing a b-sides disc, a remix album and a side project with an orchestra.

Enter Mirah’s (a)spera era. Due to the long wait between proper albums, much attention has already been paid to this record - most of which has resulted in confused coverage. Fittingly so. Even if you’re very familiar with all of Mirah’s past work, (a)spera comes as a bit of a surprise. Gone are the Elverum hallmarks. Gone are the proper hints at pop structure or even any clear attention to current indie/hipster trends. This is, pimples and all, an artistic coming out party. No longer can her success be shared with Elverum or anyone else - even if Elverum and others do still help out on a handful of tunes. The vocals, best described as “quirky,” “dreamy” and, well, “Feistian,” sound the same as ever. Backed by everything from string arrangements to minimalist lo-fi productions, the 11 tunes here are all very unique from one another, challenging the listener at every turn. Sure, you could group Mirah with St. Vincent and Feist, but that might prove confusing to more commercial minded ears. This is subtle, earthy, experimental music that is at times almost Amos-like in its weirdness.

Enough listens will do the trick. These never obvious constructions eventually arrive - not much different than some of Elverum’s work - as moody, lovable mini-epics. Art pieces. Coupled with Mirah’s literate writing, the compositions here could very likely make (a)spera one of 2009’s grad school standards.   6/10

Written by G. William Locke