Mirah

This article is about the musical artist. For other uses, see Mirah (disambiguation).

Mirah
Mirah performing at the Rio Theatre, Santa Cruz, California, Jan. 2008
Background information
Birth name	Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn
Born	September 17, 1974 (1974-09-17) (age 37) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Genres	Indie rock
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, piano
Years active	1997–present
Labels	K Records
Associated acts	Phil Elvrum of The Microphones Black Cat Orchestra Thao Nguyen The Blow Calvin Johnson Ginger Brooks Takahashi Spectratone International

Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn (born September 17, 1974, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania),^[1] is an American musician based in San Francisco California. She has released five albums under the K Records label.

Background

Mirah was born the youngest of three children. Most of her childhood was spent in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. She started writing music from a very young age, with her first song at four years old.^[2] When she was twelve, Mirah appeared on Double Dare, a television game show.^[3] "I actually used the money that I won on Double Dare to pay for the time I spent on the Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament." She began singing and performing at 18 when she moved to Olympia, Washington and attended Evergreen State College.

Music career

Mirah and Thao performing at the Music Hall of Williamsburg

Mirah released her first album, Storageland on Yoyo Recordings in 1997, and joined K records in 1999.^[4]

Mirah was previously a member of The Drivers, an all-female Olympia band. Mirah's music is featured in the documentary, Young, Jewish, and Left.^[5] In 2006, K Records released Joyride: Remixes, a re-mix album of other artists covering Mirah's songs. It features revisited versions by Guy Sigsworth, Electrosexual,Yacht... In July 2008, her song "The Garden" was featured in the TV show "So You Think You Can Dance". In October 2011, her song "Special Death" was featured in the TV show "American Horror Story". Her latest album, (a)spera, was released on March 10, 2009.

In early 2010, Mirah performed with Thao Nguyen at the Noise Pop festival in San Francisco. The two later announced a 2010 North American tour, billed under the name Thao and Mirah With The Most of All.^[6] Mirah and Thao performed a collaborative set and shared vocal duties on each artist's respective songs. The two artists subsequently recorded and released a collaborative album entitled Thao and Mirah April 26, 2011 on Kill Rock Stars with production by Merrill Garbus of Tune-Yards.^[7] The two toured in support of the album while working with Air Traffic Control, an organization that provides artists a platform for social activism.^[8]

She has also collaborated with Phil Elvrum of The Microphones, Tune-Yards, and the Black Cat Orchestra.

Personal

Mirah is openly lesbian.^[9] Her sister is Emily Ana Zeitlyn of The Weeds.^[10] Mirah is Jewish, and her middle name means "good day" or "holiday" in Hebrew.

Discography

Albums

• 1997 - Storageland
• 1999 - Parts of Human Desire EP
• 2000 - You Think It's Like This but Really It's Like This
• 2001 - Advisory Committee
• 2001 - Small Sale EP
• 2002 - Cold Cold Water EP
• 2003 - Songs from the Black Mountain Music Project (with Ginger Brooks Takahashi)
• 2004 - To All We Stretch the Open Arm (with Black Cat Orchestra)
• 2004 - C'mon Miracle
• 2005 - College Park Is Always Ready To Party (lo-fi concert recording)
• 2006 - Joyride: Remixes (remixes by other K Records artists)
• 2007 - Share This Place: Stories and Observations (with Spectratone International)
• 2008 - The Old Days Feeling
• 2009 - (a)spera

with Thao Nguyen

• 2011 - Thao + Mirah

References

1. ^ SOUTHERN | mirah > biography
2. ^ neumu - "Waiting For Mirah's C'mon Miracle", edited by Michael Goldberg
3. ^ juliafriedman.com
4. ^ SOUTHERN | mirah > biography
5. ^ Jewish Film Archive Online
6. ^ Mirah and Thao to Tour Together
7. ^ http://pitchfork.com/news/41336-thao-and-mirah-team-for-album/
8. ^ http://www.emusic.com/features/spotlight/2011_201104-qa-thao-mirah.html
9. ^ neumu [datastream ]
10. ^ Taking Root

External links

• Official Site
• AMG Allmusic page
• K Records Artist Page
• 2008 Mirah Interview at Bandega.com
• Interview with Submerge Magazine, Sept. 2008
• Venus Zine Presents: "What's in my Bag?" with Mirah

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Date of birth	September 17, 1974
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