MIMUR Is Hidden In The House – Music Review

An audiophile friend of mine (who works as a music director for an incredible community radio station in Redway, CA) introduced me to this virtually invisible quartet of clever musicians from her area. MIMUR embraces the unusual. Their sound is a combination of Gypsy/Jazz/Ska/Rock/Reggae/Punk and so much more. From what I know, they don’t have a website, a CD, a press kit, a bio or even an 8×10 glossy B&W photo, much less than a record deal with a label. What they do have is a Soundcloud listening page with four songs, a FaceBook page, a few Youtube videos of a recent live performance at the famous West Hollywood Whisky A Go Go nightclub, and a TON of TALENT!

The band consists of Anson Wait on mandolin and vocals, Mary Michelsen on vocals and bass, Ruby Guillette on keyboards and vocals, and Mason McCanless providing percussion. While each member of the quartet takes a turn on the microphone, MIRMUR’s approach leans more towards a lead vocalist supported by an occasional single voice backing harmony instead of multilayered choir like arrangements. Together the foursome manages to exude an endearing I-don’t-give-a-flying-fig vibe through their ennui infused delivery.

Of the aforementioned four recording on Soundcloud (https://soundcloud.com/mimur), “Old Briceland” is the first of the lot. It’s here we hear the Gypsy influence in their music that’s much like Eugene Hutz’s Gogol Bodello trademark sound, but with a touch of Ska in the mix. “West Coast Blues” toys with tempos and time signatures so typical of 80’s prog-rock, but MIRMUR manages to evolve it more into a prog-pop style of their own.

Turning left on track three the boys and girls of the band take us on a trippy Jamaican tour via the New York City Lower East Side streets with “Yellow Hair”. It’s here where reggae shares a spliff with punk music and the end result is an intoxicating syncopated mash-up. The final number, “Crumble”, is an offered ode to entropy vs. atrophy. It’s a sophisticated marriage of jazzy rhythms with progressive progressions. The sensuous, breathy vocals are wed with tight instrumental performances (I love the walking bass) and topped with a Grateful Dead-ish mandolin solo.

Now, here’s my fatherly advice to MIMUR. If it had not been for our mutual friend in radio I, and perhaps even the majority of music loving inhabitants on this great big ball of fun we live on and call planet Earth, would not be hearing about you. So, my talented young ones, write up a bio, get that glossy 8×10 with the group’s name and contact information on the border that all professional entertainers have, put together an EPK and set up your own web site. If you do, I’m pretty sure that record deal and world tour will follow. And oh yeah, keep on making great original music like you’re already doing, my melodic minions.

https://www.facebook.com/MIMURmusic

 

Author: Ralph White