Indie darling Mirah will appear at Castaways in her first area appearance on Sunday, October 19^th at a special early 8pm start time.  Tickets for the show are on sale now here and will also be available at the door on the night of show.  Advance tickets are $12.00.  Opening the show will be Vancouver’s herlded No Kids, which feature three member of the band P:ano and local hero Jennie Stearns in a rare solo set.

In a new concept, your purchase of advance tickets will get your name on the guest list and you will be welcomed at the door on night of show with your valid ID.  There will also be other benefits advance ticket purchasers will discover on night of show.  This is the first step toward an all-around better concert going experience that DSP has in mind for all of its club shows and we hope the public will take advantage of it.  We don’t mean to sound cryptic, but surprise is always exciting.

Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn has released five albums under the K Records  label. She is close friends with and has collaborated with Phil Elvrum of The Microphones.  She has worked extensively with The Black Cat Orchestra. Mirah is openly lesbian.  Her sister is Emily Ana Zeitlyn of The Weeds.  Mirah is Jewish, and her middle name means “good day” or “holy day” in Hebrew.

Mirah was born on a kitchen table as the youngest of three children, in Bala Cynwyd, a suburb of Philadelphia. She lived there for most of her childhood. She started writing music from a very young age, with her first song at 4 years old.  When she was twelve, Mirah appeared on Double Dare, a television game show.  She began singing and performing at 18 when she moved to Olympia, Washington and attended Evergreen State University.Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn has been at the heart of the vibrant Northwest independent music scene ever since her debut album ‘You Think It’s Like This But Really It’s Like This’. A collection of her own 4-track recordings alongside collaborations with Phil Elverum of The Microphones/Mt. Eerie, the album became an instant classic. A follow-up to her first release, the stunning ‘Advisory Committee’ (2001) cemented

Mirah’s place in the alternative music canon. These albums were an exploration of the territories beyond lo-fi, aiming to transcend mere technical limitations and to push the boundaries of ‘indie-rock’ towards a more meaningful communicative goal. Phil Elverum’s sound experiments collided with Mirah’s striking lyrical poise and unabashed emotional honesty and the resulting mix proved quite evocative. 2003 saw the release of ‘Songs from the Black Mountain Music Project,’ the result of a self-imposed artists-in-seclusion collaboration with Brooklyn-based artist and musician Ginger Brooks Takahashi. Mirah began working with Lori Goldston and Kyle Hanson of Seattle’s Black Cat Orchestra in 2003 and the release of a collection of cover songs followed. The album ‘To All We Stretch the Open Arm’ was conceived as an anti-war statement and included renditions of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Story of Isaac’ and Kurt Weill’s ‘What Keeps Mankind Alive.’ Mirah’s third solo album ‘C’mon Miracle’ (2004) combined the ever-present youthful splendor of her earlier works with a more mature stylistic component which led many critics to hail it as her best work to date.

A sonic expedition, Joyride: Remixes was released in 2006 and features dance remixes of tracks from Mirah’s three solo efforts by the likes of The Blow, Guy Sigsworth, and Anna Oxygen.

The recently released ‘The Old Days Feeling” continues to break new ground and will further Mirah’s place as a true indie darling with an amazing songwriting talent that fills the gap between lo-fi, noise and pure lush bedroom pop.

Canadian indie pop outfit No Kids are a side project for Julia Chirka, Justin Kellam, and Nick Krgovich from the group P:ano. The trio, along with a small army of friends, completed work on its debut album for the Tomlab label at Vancouver’s Hive Studios in late 2007. The resulting Come into My House arrived in February of the following year.

P:ano’s voice is a diversity of musical and thematic interests, and the band members play several instruments. Nick Krgovich and Larissa Loyva originally started playing together in 1999, and were later joined by Justin Kellam and Julia Chirka to form a cohesive foursome.

 

Jennie Stearns is a classic American songwriter. By turns heartbreaking and hopeful, her songs are evocative, poignant and haunting. Quintessentially human. Her strong yet intimate vocal style and the vivid imagery portrayed by her lyrics gently draw the listener into her world. Despite the often sombre mood, you’ll find yourself strangely at one with her perspective, akin to the intimate atmosphere of a late-night red-wine-confessional with a lifelong, much-loved friend.
Though her earlier albums (1998’s “Angel with a Broken Wing” and 2000’s “Mourning Dove Songs”) displayed the influences of the country / old-time music scene in her adopted hometown of Ithaca, it is 2002’s “Sing Desire”, that ventured into new territory, and it is this album that has garnered acclaim from press and radio as far afield as the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, and Japan.

“I’ve been drawn to dark and beautiful ballads ever since I was a kid. It’s the sadness that I sense I’m somehow connected to. There’s something soothing about the ballads, too, a desire to make everything ok”, she says. And while “Sing Desire” continues this obsession, it’s tremendously adventurous in terms of its arrangements and production. Stearns credits much of this to her co-producer, Chad Crumm, who she teamed up with for his huge library of archived sound as well as his formidable musicianship and production skills. Crumm set glinting accents of sampled sound and unexpected instruments against Stearns’ lonesome vocals. Touches of spinet, muted cornet, moments of feedback, and even a lost fragment of an old Japanese television soundtrack add a sonic richness to her gentle singing without ever overshadowing it. The album also features Mary Lorson, the song Bittersweet was produced by Billy Cote (madder Rose), Johnny Dowd on guitar, and Willie Watson (from band-of-the-moment Old Crow Medicine Show) singing two duets with Jennie. 

Stearns most recent (self) release ‘Birds Fall” is beginning to cause a stir internationally. Stearns went to Austin Texas to record with producer Gurf Morlix (Lucinda Williams, Mary Gauthier, Slaid Cleaves). Birds Fall features contributions from drummer Rick Richards (Slaid Cleaves), and Grammy winner Jim Lauderdale singing on two tracks.

Jennie hails from the small town of ithaca New York. She was a founding member of the roots band Donna the Buffalo and the indie band Tin Roof . She toured for years as a duo with her ex husband Rich Stearns and Mary Lorson’s Saint Low. These days She plays most often with keyboardist Mike Stark (best known for his work with Johnny Dowd), Mary Lorson on vocals, and Tyler Ramsey guitar, keyboard and vocals (Asheville N.C.)

When not touring, writing, or in her home studio, she can be found at Volume Records in Ithaca, an Indie record store she now co-owns.