Mirah Issue #39

(a)spera

By Noreen Sobczyk
Published: March 1st, 2009 | 2:53pm

The years since the release of the brilliant C’mon Miracle have brought fans a myriad of remixes, rarities, and collaborations including an album (Share This Place) written from the point of view of insects. The sort of album best served by repeat sessions of solitary listening, Mirah’s latest, (a)spera, is a decidedly intimate affair.

One moment stark instrumentation exists in an isolated space, and then kalimba, bongos, horns, even the medieval stringed hurdy-gurdy may join the fray. It’s this constant blending of contrasts that drives the album. Recurring themes of endings and beginnings, death and life, misery and hope come to the fore in Mirah’s lyrics. It is with the turn of a phrase that Mirah celebrates life and burgeoning nature, yet also expresses emotions relating to stagnancy or death.

One could spend quite a lot of time revisiting each song and seasoned phrase for more meaning —(a)spera may be explicated like a poet’s body of work if one so desires. If this all sounds like a dreadfully dull literary affair rife with pretension, rest assured it is not. It is, in fact, a wonderful, interesting, unique album full of expertly crafted songs.