The Phoenix Network:
 
 
 
About  |  Advertise
Adult  |  Moonsigns  |  Band Guide  |  Blogs  |  In Pictures
 
CD Reviews  |  Classical  |  Live Reviews  |  Music Features

Get buggy with it

Mirah + Spectratone International at the MFA, January 11, 2008
By MEGAN V. BELL  |  January 15, 2008
INSIDEMIRAH
Mirah

In the animated world, creatures that would otherwise be seen as unsavory have been given a family-friendly makeover, from a disease-ridden rat that happens to be an innate culinary genius to a pesky honeybee that cracks jokes and falls in love. But singer-songwriter Mirah ditched the saccharine angle for her song-cycle concept album entirely about bugs, Share This Place (K), which she performed in its entirety last Friday night at the MFA with her collaborative backing group Spectratone International — an eclectic assemblage of cello, accordion, hand percussion, and oud. The songs were short and whimsical enough to appeal to children (whose presence was indicated by enthusiastic squeals), and the layered songwriting behind Share This Place kept the rest of us busy unpacking its meanings.

The show was multi-dimensional in concept, but also in reality: behind the performers hung a blank circular screen that popped with color at the first notes of the opening “Love Song of the Fly.” Mirah enlisted the help of Britta Johnson, who created the stop-motion animated lightning bugs, beetles, ants, and other insects going about their day-to-day bug business on the screen. But in lieu of trying to create them as realistically as possible, Johnson used everyday objects — scraps of cloth, lightbulbs, tape, cotton swabs, and wine corks. These patchwork insects moved in synch with the music, each animated segment beginning and ending in time with the songs, the performers cued by small monitors at the foot of the stage. “It’s about insects, but it’s really about all of us,” Mirah told us right before paper slugs (insects or mollusks?) danced across the screen to the sea-chantey swagger of “Supper.” By the end of the evening, it was evident that Mirah wanted us to embrace nature in our daily lives, and she started by giving the creepy-crawlies a heart without stretching the truth.

Related: The queen of Cambodian cooking, Worldly travelers, Does this cheese taste funny?, More more >
  Topics: Live Reviews , Entertainment, Music, Pop and Rock Music,  More more >
  • Share:
  • Share this entry with Facebook
  • Share this entry with Digg
  • Share this entry with Delicious
  • RSS feed
  • Email this article to a friend
  • Print this article
Comments

[ 11/09 ]   Miley Cyrus + Metro Station  @ TD Garden
[ 11/09 ]   "Folk Sessions"  @ Tommy Doyle's @ Harvard
[ 11/09 ]   "Open Mic"  @ Steve’s Backstage Pass
[ 11/09 ]   Infinite Ensemble  @ Sally O'Brien's
[ 11/09 ]   "Makka Mondays"  @ Phoenix Landing
--> -->
ARTICLES BY MEGAN V. BELL
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT  |  February 18, 2009
    "Happy Valentine's Day. That was a saint, right? St. Valentine?" mumbled Lewis & Clarke's (wasted?) frontman/sonic adventurer, Lou Rogai.
  •   CHRISTMAS ON MARS  |  October 28, 2008
    Stylized after the sci-fi B-movies of yore, the film recycles Atomic Age angst: a group living in a space station on Mars have run out of spare parts, and it seems that everyone’s doomed.  
  •   ADORING PUBLIC  |  October 24, 2008
    If the goal was to bring to life for a night the strange beast that is cable access, they nailed it.  
  •   FOR THE DOGS  |  July 31, 2008
    In June, seven greyhounds suffered broken legs within a six-day period at Massachusetts’s two racetracks.
  •   TAPES FOR THE TAKING  |  July 16, 2008
    Want to make your own compilation of overlooked ’60s female soul singers? Go for it.

 See all articles by: MEGAN V. BELL

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed 



  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2009 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group