Mia Doi Todd Issue #35

Gea(City Zen Music)

By Jonathan Shipley
Published: March 1st, 2008 | 1:42pm

It would be good to listen to Mia Doi Todd’s new album when you’re doing something you'd rather not do. For instance, your taxes. It’s taxing doing your taxes. You’re pulling your hair out, chewing on that Dixon Ticonderoga number 2 pencil, wishing the forms weren’t so damn complicated. You wish for peace of mind. Some easy listening music. Something healing. Put Todd’s Gea in your CD player, and you'll get that bliss.

Gea is smooth, quiet, restful, warm, and sweet. If it were a smell, it would be a lilac in late spring. If it were a taste, a ripe mango. If it were something to touch, rich velvet, colored a deep green. A sight, a waterfall deep in a quiet forest. Yes, you'd do your taxes just fine listening to Mia Doi Todd, almost to the point of taking a short snooze atop that 1040 form.

Classically trained, Todd began writing songs while studying at Yale University in the mid-1990s. The Los Angeles–based singer certainly has her own mesmerizing voice, yet one could hear, if pressed, the same type of musical stylings employed by other female singers.

Take, for instance, “In the End,” which has a Natalie Merchant–esque stamp to it. It’s quiet, beautiful, and deeply honest: “I'm on my own with my love for you, even if it never gets back to you.” Opener "River of Life / The Yes Song" is like a classic Loreena McKennitt song, an exotic 10-minute tune.

Yes, breathe deep and relax. Don't fret over those taxes. Instead, put on Gea. Do some yoga. Light a candle. Make some soup from scratch with Mia Doi Todd's music lilting throughout the kitchen.