Mirah The “Snowbird”

By Hana Frenette

Mirah has been writing and recording music since the rise and fall of the cassette tape in the late 90’s. She’s released over a dozen solo albums, worked closely with Phil Elverum of The Microphones and Mount Eerie, and recorded music on K records.

She is currently residing in Brooklyn, and is embarking on what she calls a “snowbird” tour for the month of January that consists mainly of shows in Florida, with the exception of two nights—one on the drive down, and one on the way back up- that are in Virginia and North Carolina.

Mirah caught up with Inweekly for a chat just as her and her partner, film-maker Todd Chandler, were driving between Baltimore and D.C. in the snow, toward the first show of the tour. She discussed the evolution of her recording process, the innocence of songwriting when you’re young, and starting her own record label.

IN: You are going on a tour that consists of mainly just Florida dates. Why?

Mirah: There are obvious reasons why I might like to leave the Northeast in January and head to Florida for a month, but really, all these years of touring, maybe 18 years or so, and I feel like I’ve only played Florida a few times and it was always Tallahassee. I felt like I was missing some people.

IN: You put out a new album in the middle of 2014 called “Changing Light.” Do you feel like you are always evolving in between albums, as far as your recording processes go, or do you think you stay fairly consistent?

Mirah: There has definitely been a long flow of evolution over the course of time. I try to hold an ear to my own recording history. I also tend to do projects in between solo albums, so it might look like it has been quite a few years in between, but I am usually working on something. I’m not the kind of artist to put out solo album after solo album. I need to gather experiences, and I like to gather them by just living my life and doing these little projects.

IN: You started making music at a time when someone might have still popped a cassette tape in the car. What do you think about the changes that the music industry has gone through and the relationship it has formed with the internet in recent years?

Mirah: It’s been a bit of a roller coaster. Initially I just used a boom box to record, and then I eventually got a 4-track.In terms of the advent of digital media, I feel like I entered into the record making business at a really interesting time. It wasn’t like I had been in the business for so long before digital media became more popular, but it was sort of like approaching the edge of a cliff. I was on a small label, and because we seemed to be self-sustaining, I wasn’t sure if the digital media thing was going to affect us the way it might a larger label. I didn’t really think it was going to trickle down to our little economy we had, but it actually did. I remember when I first started making music, licensing your music was kind of frowned upon a little, and now it’s one of the ways that bands are even able to be a band at all. I’m not talking about “making it” but just sustaining themselves. That’s definitely a shift. I’ve always released my albums on vinyl as well, and with the past one I’ve actually had to have more shipped to me when I’m on the road because I seem to always underestimate how much vinyl will actually sell.

IN: What did you think the first time you heard a recording of yourself? Did it sound true to your ears or was it more like when you hear yourself on a voicemail message?

Mirah: I think the first recording might have been on a cassette when I was little, of my sister and I, of how loud I could scream! Then after that, I recorded myself for a play I was in and practicing for—“Bye, Bye Birdie.” I don’t really ever recall a disconnect between singing and then hearing the recording. I do sometimes hear my mom or my sister on a voicemail and think that it’s me, which is kind of a funny sound experience.

IN: You’ve been making records for almost 20 years. Do you find yourself wanting to take more or less of a risk with your music at this point? Are you questioning yourself more now than you did early on?

Mirah: When I first started I wasn’t considering anything a risk. I had such freedom and innocence. I didn’t have a judgmental eye on myself or my work. I stumbled upon this thing that I thought I was kind of good at and really enjoyed doing. I did eventually become more self-conscious—or maybe just more concerned—like “Oh, I’m actually doing something.” It took me 10 years to finally say this is what I do—this is my life’s passion. When I was younger, I didn’t have to ever explain myself. It allowed me a lot of freedom—creative freedom and freedom of my time. Now it’s like, am I songwriter or not? I think it’s been positive to have that shift. I’m not young and just kind of tripping forward. I like knowing what I am and wanting to do it well.

IN: Tell me about your label—Absolute Magnitude Records.

Mirah: I had moved a number of times since leaving Olympia, Washington in 2001. I had a desire to move to another label. I had just recorded a record with Thao Nguyen called “Thao + Mirah” and I came to New York. I was kind of shopping my record around to some places, and I was like, wait. I just made this. It’s totally my thing that I’ve spent so much time on, why don’t I just do it myself? I just realized that it actually was an option to release it myself— which allowed me to retain my autonomy, which I really like. So I decided to name the label after a celestial body of stars. {in}

MIRAH

WHAT: Mirah with Todd Chandler (short films and live music) and Holopaw, Dull Actors, Precubed and Jaclyn Kerry

WHEN: 9 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 10

WHERE: Sluggo’s, 101 S. Jefferson St.

COST: $5

DETAILS: mirhamusic.com