Miwa Gemini – This is How I Found You
Welcome to yet another album I have taken an absolute age to review. I think that’s because there’s about two thirds of a really good record here, although it tails off quite badly towards the end. The first five songs, however, are terrific. A sort of mysterious mixture between Portishead, Paris Motel and Jolie Holland, it’s a bit difficult to find out much about her on the internets. It’s all parable and allegory, which sort of fits the aesthetic of the album itself, which is suffused with hushed, fairytale beauty.
In many ways the slightly spooky carnival take on lounge jazz is about as close a description as I’ll manage, but the magical air of the music and her slightly odd accent make this a little special, at its best. I think Miwa is a transplanted Japanese currently living in New York, but I’m really not sure – it’s quite hard to dig up any biographical details. Her album has only been released in Canada so far, but that should hopefully be remedied shortly.
Certain tracks, like Travelling Man and the entirely forgettable Crazy Over You really do not make the cut, and oddly both seem to be the more electric guitar-heavy numbers. They are bog-standard garage blues, with little bite and really not much to distinguish them. The best stuff is just plain magical though. So you see why I prevaricated a little about reviewing this album: catch the right half dozen songs and you’ll be rather impressed; the wrong ones, on the other hand, will leave you wondering what on Earth I am thinking. So much to love though, which is better than most folk can manage.
Miwa Gemini – Pieces
Miwa Gemini – Forever For Never
website | hype | buy the album
It was the beer and the gigs mate, sorry. I was so wasted all weekend I was never actually in a fit state to post. It was either getting plastered or drinking off the previous night’s hangover. Which, come to think of it is exactly the same thing. Sorry – it was either drinking or sleeping.
Tsk tsk tsk. You know, neglecting one’s blog is one of the classic symptoms of alcoholism. And beer no less. A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips as they say. Gin is less caloric. Fewer carbs, etc. And isn’t juniper berry sort of like a vegetable? You must think of your nutrition boy! Either way, you might want to get your name down on the liver transplant list, just as a precaution. Act fast, though, it’s only a matter of time before David Crosby needs another one. Welcome back to the clean world. ;}
Good Lord man it’s either feast or famine with you, ain’t it? Here I am, waiting by the computer for 4 days, worrying about whether you’re dead in a ditch somewhere (not so far from the truth I’ll wager) and did you post a thing? Nooooo. But now it’s 3 posts in 24 hours and how’s a body to keep up? I feel used and dirty. I really need to get out more is the problem.