The Soundcloud for Desert Call by Holly Miranda has two notes of interest. “Featuring Kelis on backing vocals,” is the first. “Released Oct 2013,” is the second. Yet this song and another (Everlasting) only found themselves uploaded to Soundcloud five days ago; which is why we’re featuring the song now. Holly Miranda first cropped up on this blog back in 2009 and has featured in dribs and drabs ever since, the last being in 2013 when she provided guest vocals on Mmoths trippy distorted electronic tune All These Things. Since then she appears to have spent quite a lot of her time on Facebook posting pictures of cats and the occasional dog. Desert Call has a sleepy lazy day Sunday feel to it, combining elements of classic 60’s soul and tender country balladry. We can imagine this one being played out as the hero of a film slow dances with his lover clutched in his arms in a velvet curtained neglected nightclub, before he slowly drops to the floor, bleeding from a bloody and fatal gun shot wound he sustained from an enemy earlier, his eyes rolling to the heavens as he takes his last sad romantic breath and Holly croons “Hallelujah,” over the closing credits. Holly Miranada - Dessert Call
You know how sometimes a boy and a girl meet and they are so perfectly suited you wonder how they’d never got together before? But then you think about barriers like geography, situation and just plain old chance and realise that sometimes the best meetings of mind, body and soul take a little time? Well it’s like that with the music of Holly Miranda and Mmoths. Holly’s set of hypnotic smouldering lullabies known as The Magician’s Private Library may not be located in the world of laptops and sparse ambient synths like Jack Colleran, but both artists occupy a dreamy and otherworldly place that would almost inevitably produce lazy roads and pathways to glue them together. “You’ve been on my mind, now let me get in yours,” sings Holly dolefully and it just makes absolute sense.
This is All These Things, a radiophonic piece of downtempo electronica that provides spectral shivers and chills out of looped and distorted beauty from Mmoths. It’s kind of trippy, it’s kind of subdued and it’s kind of lovely.
The track is taken from the new Mmoths EP Diaries which will be released on March 4th. Extra points for anyone who thinks that the picture in the Soundcloud player below reminds them a little of Suede's Dog Man Star LP cover.
Mmoths (featuring Holly Miranda) - All These Things
Whilst we’re waiting for the follow up to Holly Miranda’s sleepy and sensuous debut long player The Magician’s Private Library the ex-Jealous Girlfriends singer and former Breaking More Waves One to Watch has decided to keep fans entertained with a number of cover versions that she’s recently uploaded to her Soundcloud account. “I am always recording covers, for fun, for favours, for weddings. These are just a few of the covers I’ve recorded in the last year or so,” she announced on her blog a week or so ago, before adding further songs a couple of days later.
Whilst you can hear all of the covers by clicking here, we’ve picked our personal favourites to stream below. First is her version of The XX’s Crystalized featuring Glowhearts and Timmy Mislock, which takes the song to even deeper levels of hushed cheerlessness. This is followed by Holly’s version of Breathe from the classic Pink Floyd album Dark Side of the Moon – a languidly atmospheric comedown if ever there was one.
Now hurry up Holly and let’s have another album out of you, although judging by your previous work and these songs, you’re probably not the sort of person for rushing anything.
“No one cares about your 'best of 2010' list,” Josh Weller recently tweeted. He may be correct, but that won’t stop hundreds of the things appearing throughout December and Breaking More Waves isn’t going to be any different. We’ll be running down our top ten albums of 2010 from the middle of December – but before that, at the start of the month we’re looking forward and posting our annual 10 Ones to Watch for 2011.
Prior to looking forward, here’s a recap of our 2010 selections from last year.
Ellie Goulding
We said
“With her quivering girlish vocal, an acoustic guitar, neat lyrical phrasing and stuttering laptop electro beats, Goulding could deliver commercially.”
What happened?
Goulding delivered commercially. A number one album in the UK, two top five hits and two further songs that went top thirty, sold out tours - it’s been a highly successful year for Ellie Goulding.
“….threaten to bring an ostentatious, stern, eastern European look back into fashion for bands.”
What happened?
It was Europe that really warmed to Hurts, with the band enjoying charts success in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Greece, Sweden and Finland and even an appearance on German X Factor. In the UK the band took a little longer to find their true audience, but by the time their album Happiness was released it achieved a very respectable chart placing of number four with mixed critical reaction (8/10 in the NME, 2/5 in the Guardian, 5/10 in Drowned In Sound, 3/5 in the Independent and most tellingly 9/10 by Popmatters), they also played one of our favourite gigs of the year way back in February at Wiltons Music Hall in London (here). By the end of the year they were playing sold out gigs, supporting the Scissor Sisters on their UK tour and next year are playing a tour of larger concert halls.
Beth Jeans Houghton
We said
“Quite where Beth Jeans Houghton will fit in 2010 we’re not exactly sure, but she has the voice and the songs to ensure that she can carve out her own space”
What happened?
Houghton toured with another of our Ones to Watch – Stornoway and played a string of UK festival dates. However she didn’t release any material. With her Ben Hillier (Blur, The Maccabees, Elbow) produced album now in the bag ready for release next year, Houghton can continue to carve her space in 2011.
Unicorn Kid
We said
“To the uneducated ears of an over twenty five year old or a solemn indie rock purist, the sounds of Unicorn Kid will just be considered bad music, but for his growing army of fans his electronic urgency is simply something that makes you happy.”
What happened?
In April Unicorn Kid released Dream Catcher a stunningly dirty, glitchy and energetic piece of work that became one of our favourite tracks of the year then followed it up in October with another track – Wild Life. An album is due in 2011 – it’s likely to make his growing army of hyperactive fans very happy indeed.
“It is for this reason we have selected them for our ones to watch list. Not because of musical uniqueness or commercial crossover, but because we can imagine Delphic creating a perfect indie dance summer vibe in fields across the UK.”
What happened?
Delphic didn’t achieve massive commercial success – their album charted at number 8 in the UK, but then quickly disappeared. However as we predicted their moment really came in the summer – their storming set at Bestival hit all the right spots (see our review here).
If a 2010 release from Clare Maguire arrives and it comes anywhere near the quality of those demos, we predict she could win a lot of fans.
What happened?
It took a while but finally in October Maguire released her thunderous debut single Ain’t Nobody, that found extra love through the heavily spacious Breakage Remix. Having played Latitude this summer and supported Hurts and Plan B on tour this autumn, Clare Maguire will release an album in 2011.
When Stornoway appeared on our ones to watch list they were still unsigned. After significant label interest they inked a deal with 4AD allowing them to open their suitcase and share their wonderful songs, releasing their debut album Beachcomber’s Windowsill. The album surprised many (but not us) by sneaking into the UK top 20 album chart. They ended the year selling out the 2,000 capacity Shepherds Bush Empire in London, a far cry from when we first saw them perform to a small crowd at the Wychwood Festival in 2009. On a more personal note, Zorbing and I Saw You Blink are two of our favourite songs this year.
Mirrors
We said
"The dense ambient pulse-pop of the Mirrors reflects the sounds of early OMD"
What happened?
Having signed a deal with their hometown label of Skint, Mirrors released the singles Ways to an End and Hide and Seek and played a number of gigs including support slots with OMD themselves on their 2010 European tour. The band will release an album next year and in the meantime have packaged up their early singles into a mini album which is available to purchase directly from Skints website.
“Her dreamily atmospheric guitar based songs are certainly not the kind of tunes that are going to infiltrate the pop charts, but provide for a smouldering and sleepy listening experience.”
What happened?
Miranda’s David Sitek produced album The Magician’s Private Library was seductively warm and as sleepy as a pillow and duvet set with titles such as Sweet Dreams, Every time I Go To Sleep and Sleep On Fire combined with even more shut eye lyrical content such as “Dreamt of you again last night,” from the slow burning trumpet laden Joints and “Wake up and you’re next to nothing,” from Slow Burn Treason.
Clock Opera
We said
"We love Clock Opera more than our own children."
What happened?
Clock Opera released a number of low key singles during the year including the transcendent Once and for All, toured with Marina & The Diamonds and hope to release an album in 2011. They remain one to watch.
The AntlersHospice was one of the finest and most intense albums of 2009 - no question. Now Antlers lead singer and guitarist Peter Silberman has covered Holly Miranda’s beautiful song Waves, one of the standouts from her sleepy, ember-glow seductive debut solo album.
Not so much a radical transformation, but a dreamy lo-fi version, Silberman gives the XY against the XX from Miranda. Take your pick, but both are designed for hazy, late night, out of body moments. A hypnotic piece of weary beauty, it streams below.
The Magician’s Private Library by Holly Miranda is a seductively slow burning piece, imprinted with the multi-faceted production work of David Sitek, a member of TV on the Radio. With a wide roster of other artists under his belt including Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Foals plus knob twiddling duties on Anywhere I Lay My Head by Scarlett Johansson, on this album it seems very much that Sitek is in control. Rather like Johanssons’s debut, which critically took a bashing but was one of our albums of 2008, the songs on The Magician’s Private Library are smothered with washes of guitar, experimental beats and short blasts of horns. No One Just Is with its clipped echoing rhythms and menacing soundscapes has very much the take of a TV on the Radio song, with the addition of a feminine dreamy voice floating in the mix. Unlike the aforementioned Johansson though, Miranda’s vocal is stronger. One moment it is all ghostly and otherworldly the next it’s deeply sensuous - often it is almost romantically sleepy.
Sleepy is the right word here, because there are occasions when The Magicians Private Library is just a little too languid for its own good. Titles such as Sweet Dreams, Everytime I Go To Sleep and Sleep On Fire combined with lyrical content such as “Dreamt of you again last night,” from the slow burning trumpet laden Joints and “Wake up and you’re next to nothing,” from Slow Burn Treason give a pretty clear indication of the bed time imagery that this album conjures. Add to this a front cover of a girl asleep surrounded by arrows and music that occasionally drifts in an atmospheric haze and it just compounds the narcoleptic feel.
That is not to say that The Magicians Private Library is boring. It just requires the right atmosphere. Songs such as Waves with its soft layers of guitar and existential lyrics of “This intent is so much more, then just a means to end of this suffering,” are exquisitely beautiful, hypnotic and dustily subtle. They are certainly worth attention.
Back at the end of 2009 we named Holly Miranda as one of our Ones to Watch for 2010. In terms of output Miranda was always going to be one of our less obviously commercial choices, and certainly The Magicians Private Library is never going to set its foot in the album charts. However if it’s a rainy Sunday morning and you want something a little dreamy, a little smoke filled and a little moody to create the soundtrack to your day, The Magician’s Private Library could fit the bill.
The XFM Xposure All Dayer at Camden Barfly in London is now in its fifth year and provides opportunity to see a diverse range of up and coming talent for a bargain price in a relatively small (200 capacity) venue. The 2010 stellar line up included a number of Breaking More Waves favourites and ones to watch including Holly Miranda, Stornoway, King Charles, Tinashe and The Cordelier Club. Those who managed to get out of bed early enough witnessed some of the highlights of the whole day, the line up being as strong on the bottom of the bill as it was the top.
This strength started at the very foot of the ladder. We’re informed that King Charles recently underwent some sort of near death experience, but his tribal blend of celtic psych folk is life affirming. With glorious pagan chanting, noodling angry guitar riffing, doomed drumming and braveheart sampled strings, the man with possibly the biggest hair in pop music knows how to ram power packed brilliance tightly into the cracks, with songs such as the jigalistic Love Lust and the upright Time for Eternity. Surely any man that can play a song entitled Hot Blood of a Polar Bear and the Cool Head of a Crocodile and make it sound phenomenally good deserves to go places.
With so many bands peddling the early 80’s sound back into fashion, it would come as no surprise if The Cordelier Club did the same. Yet the four piece reference 1986-1988 rather than 1981-1984. It’s a time when pop music discovered shoulder pads, big hair and pretended to be adult. Fronted by a brother sister duo, lead singer Alice encourages the audience to shout “I f*ckin’ love synths,” and bounds and bounces in an unashamed not-quite-sure-how-to-dance-but-I’m-going-to-anyway school disco manner to their extremely likeable middle of the road pop. Later day Eurythmics, The Pretenders, even Elkie Brooks come to mind and we suspect Alice could be one for the dads. Someone put them in the studio and watch their songs finding big local and BBC Radio 2 support. Possibly. Hopefully.
From FM friendly pop to something more ghostly, hazy and unsettling. The slender framed Holly Miranda (pictured) has none of the obvious hooks or choruses that the previous two acts have had. On first listen some of her tunes can seem almost impenetrable, formed out of odd rhythms, strong ethereal vocals and ambitious layered guitar complexities. This however is the beauty of what Miranda does. Hardly making any eye contact with the audience, Miranda immerses herself in her world and produces something with true depth. “Imagine you can hear bells,” says Holly when the instruments at her feet cannot be heard. There’s certainly something about her music that rings true.
The check shirted Tinashe seems to be everywhere that we are right now, having recently caught him at a Marina and the Diamonds gig (here) Like a distant cousin of Jack Penate bringing afropop influenced snappy acoustica he once again wins new friends, something he seems consummately skilled to do.
To keep the musical variety going Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs push out a seamless mix of laptop and knob twiddling dancefloor breaks that seriously doesn’t take itself too seriously. We seriously mean that. From creature like headwear to whipping out a keytar for a jittering piece of d-i-y techno, T.E.E.D rolls up sleeves and nimbly demolishes any respect for chin rubbing intellectuals. “A weird little afternoon rave” is how T.E.E.D describe the performance. But weird in this case is good. “Do you want it louder,” the chief dinosaur asks. Hell yes. Make it Brontosaurus.
It’s half time, the dancefloor is starting to become rather beer sodden, and the air has become rather stale so a trip outside the venue calls. Part 2 to be continued.....later today.
Holly Miranda is a New York based singer and musician who has recently signed with XL Recordings, a label who continue to bring a diverse but high quality range of artists to the airwaves. Her debut self released EP Sleep On Fire attracted significant attention, being in places brooding, tense and beautiful although not necessarily perfect. It acted as a perfect teaser for the way forward. Her debut single proper, Forest Green Oh Forest Green was released in November, and Holly is due to release her debut album early in 2010. In the build up to the release of the album Holly has been supporting Breaking More Waves favourites The Antlers and The XX in the United States.
Miranda has been compared with Cat Power, Norah Jones and Feist. She was formerly in a band called The Jealous Girlfriends and for her solo work Dave Sitek of TV On The Radio has been involved with production duties. Her dreamily atmospheric guitar based songs are certainly not the kind of tunes that are going to infiltrate the pop charts, but provide for a smouldering and sleepy listening experience that could potentially provide long term satisfaction.
