Mimi Page: Breathe Me In
Reviewed By: Lisa Torem
Label: Hunter Records
Format: CD
After working on several EPs, and watching her single ‘This Fire’ zoom to # 1 on Amazon.com, the singer-songwriter and pianist, Mimi Page, co-produced her first full length debut with Warren Huart (The Fray, Aerosmith.)
Besides that, she continues to score independent films and has collaborated with such electronic heavies as Bassnectar, Omega and Skytree. She has also reinterpreted covers of ‘Secunda’ and ‘Sons of Skyrim’ for the game 'Skyrim', which are uniquely haunting.
'Breathe Me In' combines her chilling/fragile lyrics with her gentle, ethereal vocals and distinct piano playing, which bridges the wide gap between the thunderous tones of Fiona Apple and the shimmering minimalism of Tori Amos.
There is no track on the album, which does not fully engage the senses. Page’s images are exceedingly direct, yet poetic. Her angelic range is astonishing and as her emotions bleed, her gorgeous voice echoes the joy, pain and confusion. Her piano playing includes skeletal voicings that dust lightly every utterance.
The title song is perhaps the most colossal; drenched in desperate longing, it truly transports the listener to another ambient world, but without contrived bleeps. Page creates her own brand of ambience with a steadfast troupe of beats and delicate sounds, which climb in subtly between the spaces, and, while doing so, she conveys gripping and poignant revelations.
The first half of the album includes ‘Black Valentine’, about a relationship on the skids, the nostalgic ‘Colorblind’, and the vividly passionate ode to “burning jealousy”, ‘Gravity’.
One of the best, the aforementioned ‘This Fire’ roars with great streaks of bluish-orange ferocity. Page expertly inspires goosebumps. Using fire again as a convincing metaphor, she sings, on ‘The Starving Artist’, “These are the flames of my soft spoken fire.”
‘Come What May’ is more discordant, but so rich, and so human: “But the world has yet to throw away/The girl that’s standing here today/Cause when my heart is aching/I’m barely even breaking…”
‘Phenomenon’ is another venture into the soul of a questioning being: “I can’t see it, but I feel it there /And when it moves it soothes me like the air.” ‘Jigsaw’ is incredibly moving, and drawn from an old childrens’ chant: “Sticks and stones broke my bones and I’m a puzzled piece, rigid and alone.”–
The closer, ‘Breathe Me In’ is insanely romantic: “Something in that gaze of yours holds me down. Hypnotized, I’m drawn to you,” she sings, in a style that pulls you gracefully into her dream state.
Besides that, she continues to score independent films and has collaborated with such electronic heavies as Bassnectar, Omega and Skytree. She has also reinterpreted covers of ‘Secunda’ and ‘Sons of Skyrim’ for the game 'Skyrim', which are uniquely haunting.
'Breathe Me In' combines her chilling/fragile lyrics with her gentle, ethereal vocals and distinct piano playing, which bridges the wide gap between the thunderous tones of Fiona Apple and the shimmering minimalism of Tori Amos.
There is no track on the album, which does not fully engage the senses. Page’s images are exceedingly direct, yet poetic. Her angelic range is astonishing and as her emotions bleed, her gorgeous voice echoes the joy, pain and confusion. Her piano playing includes skeletal voicings that dust lightly every utterance.
The title song is perhaps the most colossal; drenched in desperate longing, it truly transports the listener to another ambient world, but without contrived bleeps. Page creates her own brand of ambience with a steadfast troupe of beats and delicate sounds, which climb in subtly between the spaces, and, while doing so, she conveys gripping and poignant revelations.
The first half of the album includes ‘Black Valentine’, about a relationship on the skids, the nostalgic ‘Colorblind’, and the vividly passionate ode to “burning jealousy”, ‘Gravity’.
One of the best, the aforementioned ‘This Fire’ roars with great streaks of bluish-orange ferocity. Page expertly inspires goosebumps. Using fire again as a convincing metaphor, she sings, on ‘The Starving Artist’, “These are the flames of my soft spoken fire.”
‘Come What May’ is more discordant, but so rich, and so human: “But the world has yet to throw away/The girl that’s standing here today/Cause when my heart is aching/I’m barely even breaking…”
‘Phenomenon’ is another venture into the soul of a questioning being: “I can’t see it, but I feel it there /And when it moves it soothes me like the air.” ‘Jigsaw’ is incredibly moving, and drawn from an old childrens’ chant: “Sticks and stones broke my bones and I’m a puzzled piece, rigid and alone.”–
The closer, ‘Breathe Me In’ is insanely romantic: “Something in that gaze of yours holds me down. Hypnotized, I’m drawn to you,” she sings, in a style that pulls you gracefully into her dream state.
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