MIRA BLACK
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada | INDIE
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Press
As a vocalist, what do you value most in the musicians you work with?
Just as with friends and lovers, I value a musician who is truly listening. Words are the obvious form of human communication, but of course there are so many levels in the act of communication.
My band can hear the nuances of my performance, intelligently and imaginatively enhance the creation of sound and catch me if I fall!
How do the musicians in Winnipeg compare to those in Chicago and other places where you've worked?
Heart, baby! There is a gentle humility inside a potent quality in Winnipeg musicians that I think is rare in the art world.
I've spent a great deal of time in Chicago, New York, London, India, Toronto and most recently Vancouver Island. Amazing musicians to be sure, though to be honest, I had to really dig. For example, there are live music venues on every street corner in Chi Town and huge concerts every night but the musicians don't know each other like we do here.
What is about Winnipeg musicians that you treasure?
This is my family. Clan. This is the caravan crew I would choose to head into battle with and have done so on my own terrain many times. And there is always a chair pulled up at the dinner table when I come home.
What do you think makes Winnipeg musicians play the way they do?
Winter. Something about spending most of our lives inside with our craft, mixed with that amazing break-out in the summer, creates a kind of grateful discipline and open imagination in a Winnipegger.
How would you describe the Winnipeg musical community?
We're like that quiet genius kid at the back of the classroom who doesn't know that nerds are totally hot!
What can people expect to hear this Friday night at your concert?
Basically, this is my heart and soul exposed and interpreted by a group of wonderful Winnipeg artists.
Nathan Reimer programming, Keith Price adding his jazz guitar, Don Greenberg building sets and growing visuals, Po-Mo Inc setting the music to light and animation, Nicolette Rieger, Brittnay Hunter, & Stacy Klassen are all coming to add some body movement, my dear ole friend Chris Brett sound engineering and the West End's own Andrew Toffen on lights.
Opening for me, not just because they are amazing representations of good men, but even more wonderful musicians, Ego Spank (acoustic trio) Gilles Fournier, Murray Pulver and Joey Landreth warming up the room with some acoustic funk (I secretly want them to be my back up singers one day). Oh yeah, and Me...doing what I do :) - The Scene
The Queen of Pop, notorious for having a critical and creative eye on all her projects, licensed the use of Mira Black's own version of the new Canadian electronica artists song Crazy. - Socan
hen Shell Reyes asked Canadian singer-songwriter Mira Black in early 2010 if she would like to meet renowned Chicago-based music producer Vince Lawrence, she said yes. After all, Black thought, Lawrence is credited with founding House music. He has produced for Beyoncé. And, at the very least, he was offering a trip to Chicago.
“I didn’t really think anything would come of it because I was studying jazz at the time,” says Black, who once fronted the Canadian folk band Acoustically Inclined. “But then we met and it was like we fell artistically in love.”
Lawrence originally blocked out an hour to meet with the singer, but one hour turned into two, which turned into dinner, which ended in a 10-day stay in Chicago. “We just nerded out on music, playing our influences, and talking about who we are as artists,” says Black. During that visit, Black listened to more than a thousand of Lawrence’s tracks, wrote lyrics to one, and, after a little more than a week of collaborating, the first song was complete.
“After that I just went back home to Winnipeg, packed up my stuff, and made the move to Chicago, which I love,” says Black, who now lives in Ukranian Village across the street from Lawrence’s studio.
“Illusion,” the song that convinced her to move to Chicago, will likely be part of Mira, Black’s album that debuts early next year and is being released by Lawrence’s Slang Musicgroup label. (The album’s first single, “I Remember Love,” is available on iTunes now). The record is a combination of Black’s poetic lyrics and rich vocals, and Lawrence’s innovative take on electronic pulses. The result is a soulful mix of ambient electronica with a touch of jazz. And those lyrics? Well, they’re powerful too, and mostly about love, conjured up from heart-wrenching moments in Black’s own life.
Chicagoans can get a taste of her story this month at a live show Black and Lawrence are putting together. “It’s going to be a very tactile show, with audio and visual elements that will engross the audience and tell a story,” says Black. “And we’re going to remix the album and hopefully add some poetry in there, too.”
Black is no stranger to performing poetry live and off the cuff. She’s already a regular at the Green Mill Cocktail Lounge’s famed Sunday-night poetry slams. “I’m really a storyteller and a poet. The music comes because I can just hear it, and my words become lyrical.”
Visit mirablack.com for information about upcoming shows.
by jaydine sayer - Michigan Avenue Magazine
Definir tu música como “Massive Attack con Barbra Streisand de vocalista, Joni Mitchell escribiendo las letras y los tres en el Cirque du Soleil” es, cuanto menos, arriesgado. Producida por la leyenda de la música house Vince Lawrence, Mira Black suena en realidad a otra cosa, a grupos de principios de la década pasada como Mono, Mandalay o Lamb.
Al menos eso es lo que pensamos al escuchar el primer single de su disco de debut. ‘I Remember Love’, que se puede descargar gratuitamente a cambio de un correo, es una balada de toques electrónicos. Según dice en su página oficial, su primer disco, ‘Mira’, que saldrá a la venta el 31 de octubre, utilizará elementos de diferentes géneros e insistirá en “los recovecos y triunfos del amor perdido, buscado y encontrado”. Por ahora esta canadiense de ascendencia asiática y escocesa está consiguiendo que se la nombre en Popjustice y en breve publicará su primer videoclip. - Jenasias Pop
VIDEO INTERVIEW & LIVE PERFORMANCE @ URL - Huffington Post
“Imagine Massive attack fronted by Barbra Streisand, with Joni Mitchell writing the lyrics, then take those three to Cirque du Soleil.”
Meet the wondrous Mira Black, singer songwriter from Chicago. Her new single, I remember Love, a sensual love song blending electronica, subtle beats and jazz undercurrents, is released in the UK on 3rd October.
Produced by Vince Lawrence, the iconic founder of Chicago House music, I Remember Love is Black’s first single from her forthcoming album ‘Mira’ (which will be out in the UK early next year).
Here’s our interview with Mira, in which she tells us more about her music, her influences, and why love is such an important theme in her songs.
How long have you been a musician?
I'm sure I was singing right out of the womb; music in my head from conception.
Have you always been into ambient/electronica, or do you have a different background?
I discovered ambient/electronica music when my path and that of Vince Lawrence collided. He and I spent our first meeting nerd-ing out about all kinds of different music. It's truly what we both love at the heart of our being. Electronica became the natural fusion of his skill and mine.
My background is quite eclectic from musical theatre to folk to bluegrass to rock and roll to contemporary jazz. I was raised on the pop music of my father’s time - like Frank Sinatra, Elvis and The Beatles. I grew up watching Bollywood movies and old black & white love stories with Doris Day and Audrey Hepburn. My mother was a musician playing in a Nova Scotia jig band touring across Canada. I adore great song writers like Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and Ani DeFranco.
What are you like as a live performer?
Dramatic and improvisatory. It's the one place I feel most authentic, most at home. There are no limits on my stage and so I can show my self wholly to my audience who's energy in turn feed my craft
Who are your main musical influences?
The musicians I've performed with through my life are my main musical influences. I learned about music by getting my ass kicked on the road and on hundreds of stages around the world. I learn by making mistakes and then feeling the difference when I got it right.
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What, other than your own music, are you listening to currently?
I'm a jazz dork - Kurt Elling, Claudia Acuna, Diane Reeves, Cassandra Wilson, Chet Baker...I could go on and on. Glich Mob is very fun - saw them live in Chicago and they blew me away.
My ipod has been on repeat to this band I over heard in a clothing store called Little Joy. I charmed the girl who worked there to go find out who it was and then I went straight to itunes.
I listen to a lot of singer songwriters too - Vance Gilbert, Sia, Amos Lee, Ferron, Imogen Heap. I’m studying dub step artists at the moment - Shrillex has some interesting stuff and the video for "First of the Year" is inspiring. I hope to make brave videos like that. "Someone call 911!!!" Indeed!
Who is your new single "I remember love" about?
I hope it's about you.
The theme of the song is centred around the lesson I learned when I lost a great love because I wasn't in the moment of it. I wasn't paying attention to the truth of the experience but was lost in regrets and dissatisfactions. I was so distracted by the things in this life that don't, in my opinion, really matter like money and image. I was lost in things like fear and ego and entitlement and guilt - waste of time. Time passed and so did the love. I know that love must be allowed to change and grow and evolve and that endings need not be tragic if everyone involved can be open, vulnerable and honest. But in my case I was unable to actually see the person who adored me for the naked truth of who I am. I was looking for love all around the actual love right there in my life.
I write so I wont forget and so that I might deepen the lesson and grow.I won’t make that same mistake again. "When I find new love, let us fall so deeply there is no time to fear."
Do you like boys, girls - or both?!
Why, would you like to take me out? (Wink nudge!)
I like love. I'm all about the connection and the energy. The parts you choose to use to express that love are unique to each situation. There are as many ways to love as there are people.
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When's your new album coming out? How would you describe it? Is love a continuing theme?
Oh my goodness...not nearly fast enough! It's coming out early next year. My single will be released Oct 3rd in the UK and we have secret plans to give fans B-sides and remixes - so keep posted on my website.
It's about as many aspects of love that I could think of - the longing, craving, lamenting, missing, having, wishing, hoping, striving, working, acknowledging. It's the time spent alone in a new place surrounded by boxes: whether you are weeping at the loss of someone, or dancing at the finding of yourself, I hope it's a reflections of the hum - When Sally met Sally UK
Discography
MIRA -12 track album
I Remember Love- single
I Remember Love - remixed (7 tracks)
Crazy single
Photos
Bio
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MIRA BLACK REDEFINES ELECTRONICA WITH MESH OF SUBTLE BEATS, A DASH OF JAZZ & INTENSELY AFFECTING VOCALS
Ask most artists to characterize their musical persona, and youre often saddled with, I sound like no one else. I am unique. Singer/songwriter Mira Black, however, is wholly
obliging to offer a take on her sonic signature: Imagine Massive attack fronted by Sarah Vaugne, with Joni Mitchell writing the lyrics, she says. Then take those three to Cirque du Soleil.
On second thought, perhaps Blackwhose upcoming album, Mira, veers to the left of any neatly defined musical genreis indeed that rare artist that defies convention. Produced by iconic Chicago House Music legend Vince Lawrence, the sets 14 tracks are founded in
ambient electronica, but stripped down into sparse stop-and-start beats that trickle, ooze and percolate, ultimately allowing her potent vocals and intimate lyrics to rise to the surface. Getting to the core of Miras philosophies became our mission, says Lawrence. We started with a rough electronic sketch, but as I heard her sing and saw the poetry in her lyricshow emotional every word isshe wanted to maintain her acoustic sensibility. We ultimately shaped something that is subtle and immersive, where you hear every word shes saying. It distills past any fluff and is profoundly touching.
Mira will be released early next year, with first single I Remember Love launched fall 2011. The moody, contemplative song opens with the telling lyric, I remember when someone thought I was the one... Mira explains, The
message is to never let the moment pass, not to get jumbled in the things that dont matter. Dont miss any opportunity to find true love.
Like most of her compositions, the message summons Miras life experiences. John Lennon
had it right when he sang, Love is all you need. Some call me naïve or an innocent, but I believe its that simple, she says. Writing this record was about purging as a mechanism to perpetuate growth. Those experiences provided tools for authentic analysis and lessons
around heartbreak and love. She adds with a laugh: My formula for writing: Fall madly in love and get your heart pulled out through your nose.
As her umbrella theme, Black asks what could be more apropos than the universal theme of love? Come on, Im not a soldier, a teacher or a politician. Im not a mother or a religious leader. I have no illusions that Im powerful enough to change the world and unite religions. So lets talk about the moment, this moment, the truth of this moment. Lets skip the small talk about a more than this kind of love. Lets explore authentic connection.
Her lifes journey also adds to Blacks connection with heart-driven lyrics. With an intellectually based father from East India and a free-spirited Scottish mother, she was raised
around the globe: in India, Canada, the West Indies and America. As a nomadic child, Ive had the opportunity to gain a greater understanding of the human condition, she says. I go back to India every few years and see a very different portrait of humanity.
This has all allowed me to maintain an open mind.
Black also brings a diverse past musical life to her current work. In the early 1990s, she toured with popular Canadian folk act Acoustically Inclined. Ironically, the group started as
an instrumental ensemble, until members heard Black in the audience spontaneously singing aloud to their melodies. They invited her onstageeventually to become the groups vocalist.
I was the one woman traveling with these five cats, touring folk, pop and jazz festivals, she says. It was through that experience that I learned to appreciate a more avant garde sound and composition.
In addition, in 2008, Black released the solo jazz-infused Live At The Moment, whose influence peaks through on Mira, thanks to her inclusion of organic instrumentation like cello and piano, alongside the synthesizers and electronic pulses.
This record is an experience of creative spirits from diverse backgrounds painting a beautiful tapestry together, Black notes.
Lawrence adds, The very definition of music is organized sound over time. Mira and I discarded the traditional rules of chord progression. This is sound design, with the musical
elements building from Miras vocals and lyrics. We drilled beyond the BS to a basic core message.
An ideal example is the track Illusion, whose essence was born after Black fell in love with a man averse to the risks of commitment because he saw how people could belittle love to a series of physical impulses. She wrote the lyric and melody over a cool swirl of cascading, slowly building blips and beats, singing, A butterfly consumed by the warmth of
his cocoon/The sky awaits, longing to hear your song/But dont wait too long
or when you get there Ill be gone/Dont tell me love is an illusion.
Dont Leave Yet, on the other hand, is a lamenting l
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