Mirah
Understanding
'Understanding', Mirah's 6th full length solo record, is a conscientious return to her early unconventional recording process - an embrace of spirited imperfection and rawness inclusive of rough first takes, natural room sounds, and a fair amount of broken equipment. Bathed in the sparkles of disco ball light, Mirah recorded demos with vocals, guitar, organ, and percussion in a former army barracks gymnasium at The Headlands Center for the Arts, where she spent four weeks as an artist in residence. Once home in Brooklyn, Mirah teamed up with her frequent co-producer Eli Crews (tUnE-yArDs, The Julie Ruin, Son Lux) and invited Deerhoof's Greg Saunier to join them in the studio. The collaboration sparked new textures and ideas. Building on top of Mirah's vibrant original tracks, they used midi to transform a marimba into a distorted farfisa melody, drastically lowered the pitch of vocals until they morphed into sub-bass lines, and added layers of distinct timbres from Crews' extensive vintage synth collection, a mellotron, and an '80s era Soviet drum machine.