Alex Mirkin

Almost literally "raised on the radio", Alex spent most of his young and formative years surrounding himself with music, whether it be his fathers taped copies of "Sgt. Pepper's" and "Tommy", his mothers folk compilations and bed-time Joan Baez lullabies, the families upright piano in the corner of the living room, the children's choir at church, or simply switching between AM and FM stations on a $10 radio. As a writer, Alex has built his craft on a belief that the english language is too broad and free to allow for lazy lyrics or over-used cliches. He fosters the notion that songs can be both poetry and prose, and nurtures this idea in his own creativity.
Alex was first introduced to the idea of alternate guitar tunings by Joni Mitchell and CSNY, and it has become the foundation for his playing style. But it was on a summer evening at the age of 17, in a bookstore in Portland, ME that he first heard Nick Drake. "Place to Be" was playing on an old stereo, and he stood where he was and listened to the entire "Pink Moon" album without moving. Ever since then, Alex's sound and style musically is based almost exclusively in unique and mood-setting tunings.
He is influenced by life; the up and downs, the uncertainty of it all and the grounded awareness of being. Love, loss, and everything in-between. We hope you enjoy.

"What I hear when I listen to Alex play isn't exactly folk or of the broadly-dubbed "singer-songwriter" genre. Instead, I get a highly creative and unique alchemy of new and old sound. I hear Paris nights and London rain. I hear beauty and sadness. I hear Nick Drake, Sylvia Plath, and Colin Meloy. His free use of alternative guitar tunings and gorgeous lyrical lines stand out to me in a way that makes me believe we will be hearing greatness from this young man sooner than we know."

- Jack Kerns