Mira: C/D?

Window Seat

There's actually two Miras, but one's only released one record and I think they're European. This is the Floridian one who've released two albums on Projekt while sounding nothing like a typical Projekt band.

why do people always say this about projekt bands they like?

For 2005, Mira returns with their most focused, mature, and fully realized release to date. There I go daydreamer is a testament documenting the band’s attention to detail, ear for texture, and desire to capture the intensity of their live shows. From the unnerving guitars of the album opener “Say When,” Regina immediately sets the tone: “I’ve drawn the line, walked it too many times.” Thus begins the daydreamer journey, which takes the listener through fear, hope, and catharsis, as Regina poses and plays with the questions plaguing her. Never before has she been so open and candid in her lyrics. The album shifts from danceable hits such as the shoegazey and spacey “Highs in the Lows,” and the brief, but brilliant, drive of “Heavenly Slumber” to grand epics like the heavy folk stylings of “Long Division” and the bombastic “Nearest Exit” from which the album is named. In the midst of all of this are the most crystalline and brilliant songs Mira has written, from the jazzy feel of “No Other Way,” to one of the album’s greatest songs, the sparse and ghostly beautiful “Adrift.” “Hinterland,” the album’s closer, is a return to the tension out of which the album began, returning Regina to her questions, searching for a brave face. The lines “inside a cave I will hibernate / when the seasons change I will not even wake” are some of the most painful, as the album builds, explodes, and collapses under its own weight. This latest album from Mira, more than any other, establishes the band at the forefront of the current darkwave/shoegaze/post-punk revival, and cements their place in the annals as one of the best of the bunch, not only on Projekt records, but also across the whole of music today. Absolutely brilliant, an instant classic.

I knew it, I knew it, I knew it'd be fucking brilliant considering what I'd heard in concert!

Also related, I saw The Rest about two weeks ago (which features Regina on vocals and a mate of my friend Suzee's on drums) and they're just improving in quantum leaps. On the very last song, the guitarist -- Erica, I think? -- impressed me with this squalling feedback outro on the last song that reminded me of KoD's "Hammer" and Breathless' "See How the Land Lies". Any guitarist that can make me think of Gary Mundy and Julian Swales -- is someone I instantly admire, ardently so. *swoon*