“I’ve learned to cringe less when people say singer-songwriter,” admitted Mirah. “I bet in olden times, people would have said I was a traveling minstrel. I wonder if I would have cringed at that? They’re just general categories based on popular vernacular.”
I’d never heard Mirah prior to her recent album; hearing more than one person categorize her as a female singer-songwriter was enough to keep me at bay. Yet, Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn has just released “C’mon Miracle” and her doe-eyed voice has worked its way into my heart and made me swoon. It’s been a long time since a woman’s voice has enchanted me so. Epic yet personal tales sung mostly around quietly strummed guitars and beautiful percussion makes up the 36 minutes of her album. Fans of the band the Microphones will recognize Phil Elvrum’s
sonic touches throughout the album, his greatest achievement being the percussion.
When I mentioned that she’d been described to me as a gay singer-songwriter, she was a bit shocked that someone would have the audacity to say that. She retorted, “People develop their identity in order to know who they are and that’s an important thing. They can say ‘this is who I am.’ It feels good. One of the whole reasons for developing your own identity is so you’ll be recognized for being who you are, instead of who you aren’t. To be misunderstood is annoying at its best and dangerous at its worst.”
“My job is sort of public. People want to know where to put me. Yes, it’s true I identify as female. Yes, it’s true I identify as queer. It’s important in some ways and not so important in other ways. I can tell when there’s a big queer presence at my shows and I can tell when there’s not, and there’s a part of me that feels lonely when there’s not. If my public identity were miscast, then I’d have more of those lonely shows. But the way that it’s not so important is that if every one of my shows was a big queer love fest, then I’d feel like I was only in a narrow chute of life, instead of the big full rushing thing of it.”
When we spoke, Mirah had just finished boiling sap from maple trees at her family farm in Pennsylvania. She seemed surprised that her album could be considered a masterpiece and is in no way prepared to be a music star. Working as a K Records artist, her music career has been crafted with a do-it-yourself ethic. With this in mind, I couldn’t help but ask her how she could handle fame.
“Can I ask why?” she replied. I explained that, in my opinion, “C’mon Miracle” is amazing and that should she tour with a band, fame may just happen. That said, she explained her DIY attitude. “I’m working on plans for one of the tours to be more filled out with a band of sorts. I don’t really plan for ‘getting big.’ It seems like that’s something you have to plan for, you have to be ready with all the t-shirts and the singles and the fanfare with some kind of schedule, anticipating the sale of the fame you’re consciously creating. I don’t operate that way. I guess I’m just not organized enough to be famous.”
Some of the sweetest things in life are often overlooked because they fall outside of our categories. Next time someone recommends an artist to you, don’t ask “What’s it like?” Just check it out. Thankfully, my opinion was changed by one soft-spoken lady who’d love the chance to change yours as well.
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