Lana Mir: Lana Mir (CD on Unfiltered Records)

Band: Lana Mir
Label: Unfiltered Records
Title: Lana Mir

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Band:Lana Mir
Title:Lana Mir
Reviewed By:Lisa Torem
Date Published:13/09/2010

Label:Unfiltered Records
Format:CD
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Born in Kiev, where her musical influences were limited, singer/songwriter Lana Mir discovered, through relationships with fellow travellers, a vibrant world of western musicians such as Marianne Faithful and Joni Mitchell. Though her career was just starting to blossom in her native country, Mir decided to make her home in New York and soon met producer Andy Chase who was entranced by her home recordings.

The production meeting meant that, in only a year’s time, her debut, self-titled, ‘Lana Mir’ would be released. Taking full advantage of her exciting urban environment, Mir also filmed a video, ‘Summertime’, which was shot in Central Park.

The eleven track CD hits upon a variety of genres. The opener, ‘Say You Need Me’ is poppy in a pedestrian way. It doesn’t illustrate the depth of her emotional range, but it’s entertaining and well-suits that style.

‘To Be Wrong’ shows a steady increase in the amount of lyrical detail. ‘Summertime’ has a melody which makes some clever manoeuvres. In ‘I Wanna Be Adored’, a Stone Roses cover done over in a unique manner, Mir’s voice wistfully echoes the glistening melodic line. “Never let the summer end” is the tag line and she indicates, through mournful passages, that sense of longing.

When she sings, “I don’t have to sell my soul/hHe’s already in me,” in a breathy puff, she certainly wins over.

‘Tears are not Enough’ is sanguine: “Wasted chances down the drain/If I come back you’ll be to blame” is one powerhouse of a line which stays in the mind once the song ends. The ballad, ‘Return,’ has a wild, string solo and a jazzy feel. Mir’s voice has a bittersweet elegance as she expresses: “I knew you wouldn’t return” and repeats it again to prove a point and keep us centered.

Obviously, an aficionado of Brazilian samba, the Antonio Carlos Jobim styled ‘Goodbye Girl’ features Mir’s voice braving some chromatic changes. I personally prefer her journey through the land of American and Brazilian jazz to her standard pop repertoire as it provides a more complex base for her interpretation and she is more than capable of stretching herself in this manner.

‘We started something’ displays vulnerability and production-wise is lush and percussive with universal appeal. ‘These Days’ is another ballad, like ‘Tears’ which documents disillusionment; “These days are falling/The last chance is calling/These days weren’t meant to last forever.” It is acoustically-based and the notes dissolve gently between verses.

‘Believe in Me’ also expresses a sense of innocent yearning. Lana Mir’s debut is lovely, and I feel anxious to see what else she has in mind next time around. Something tells me there’s more on the horizon and that on her next recording; she’ll become even more adept at letting us know who she really is.

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Evocative and versatile eponymous debut album from Kiev-born and now New York-based singer-songwriter, Lana Mir

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Lana Mir - CD
Evocative and versatile eponymous debut album from Kiev-born and now New York-based singer-songwriter, Lana Mir

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