May 04, 2016
Singer-songwriter Mirah moved away from the Philadelphia area some 15 years ago — living in Olympia, Portland and now Brooklyn — so it’s always a special occasion when she drops by for a show. Mirah tours, like Mirah albums, are never predictable. Sometimes she’s playing solo, sometimes she’s backed by this band or that. For this tour, she’s teaming up with Los Angeles singer-songwriter-composer Jherek Bischoff and is backed by a string quartet. No matter what she’s up to, those vivid lyrics and that passionate voice are always at the center. I caught up with Mirah over email, in between rehearsals.
Your music always keeps me guessing. It’s not even like you have phases — you just seem to try new things all the time. Are you a restless soul?
I think I would describe myself as enthusiastic and curious rather than restless. I’m in this music thing for life and just like every other relationship, I want my relationship to music to be spicy some days, gentle on other days and be able to surprise me every day.
Walk me through the concept behind this tour. You’ll be playing your music backed by a string quartet?
Yes, for this tour I’ll be sharing the stage with my dear friend and collaborator Jherek Bischoff, who will open the night with a set of his own original tunes. For my set, in addition to the quartet, Jherek will play bass and percussion and my bandmate Maia Macdonald will join on vocals, percussion and guitar. I’ll play guitar for half of the set, but I get to put my guitar down and just sing for the other half, which I always look forward to. Even after all these years, I haven’t figured out how to move around when I play guitar. And I like to move around!
Jherek and I have worked together a number of times over the years. Most recently he wrote and recorded the string arrangements for my last album, “Changing Light.” I wrote a song with him for his album, “Composed,” which we debuted at The Ecstatic Music Festival here in New York in 2012.
Did all of your songs make a smooth transition to string quartet? Was it a difficult process?
Jherek wrote all the arrangements. He’s quite skilled that way. And really, they all responded quite differently to the new form. Some that I thought were a risk to put on the list ended up sounding born that way, and others that I was expecting to go one way went another. Handing the songs over to Jherek to make the arrangements felt similar to when I made my remix album in 2006. I had always been so involved with every detail of my recordings, so I thought it would be a good experiment to release that control and let the remixers do the driving. For this project, I’d worked with Jherek enough already to know that I would trust his instincts, and I also know that he happens to be a driving machine. I much prefer navigating to driving.
What drew you to this idea?
I’ve had a different band lineup for almost every single tour I’ve done since I started doing full band tours. Sometimes there would be a clarinet player, sometimes keys, sometimes drums, sometimes none of these. I love this re-inventing of songs, with new people and instrumentation. I’ve multitrack-recorded strings on many of my recordings and I’ve played with larger orchestral ensembles for one-off performances — once with The Oregon Symphony.
And I’ve toured with a violist many times, but I’ve never toured with a string quartet. I wanted to give my songs more of a chance to explore a chamber music setting. Sometimes I think of touring like taking my songs on a fun trip, a vacation! And I don’t want to go to the same place every single time. I want each one to be a new adventure for them.
Tell me about this Jherek Bischoff. How did you meet?
I met Jherek first through our mutual friend Lori Goldston in Seattle. Lori is a collaborator of mine, a founding member of The Black Cat Orchestra and Spectratone International. She and I have written, recorded and toured together a bunch. Jherek is from the Seattle area and has also worked with Lori quite a lot over the years, and on one of those days on one of those years, Lori invited Jherek to join us for a show. So I met him at rehearsal at Lori’s house and I remember hearing about him growing up on a sailboat and wondering how this sweet and very tall person had ever started to play the stand-up bass while living on a sailboat with all of his equally tall and large-instrument-wielding family.
What’s his music like?
It’s beautiful!
What did you work on in your last practice?
The last practice? Well, Jherek lives in L.A. and isn’t here yet, so the last practice was actually just Maia and I practicing along to the MP3s Jherek sent of the arrangements and making silly faces at each other.
Saturday, May 7
8:30 p.m., $12-$15
Boot & Saddle
1131 S. Broad St.
