As reported on Pitchfork this morning, Thao and Mirah have made their collaboration official on wax: Thao and Mirah comes out on Kill Rock Stars on April 26. Seeing the two of them live at Mississippi Studios last year, the teaming makes perfect sense: Thao's exuberance is perfectly matched well with Mirah's serenity, and throughout the night they often traded roles so that you couldn't tell who was the prankster and who was the straight man.
Take it away, press release:
Thao and Mirah both often go by their first names only. That is mostly why they wanted to make a record together. Other reasons include: they are friends, they were finally in San Francisco at the same time, and both joyfully welcomed a short departure from their respective successful solo careers to collaborate on a project.
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The two enlisted dear friend and colleague Merrill Garbus (Tune-Yards, 4AD) as co-producer, guest musician (and for one song, guest writer) and the aptly titled album Thao and Mirah was recorded over two freewheeling weeks for Kill Rock Stars this past summer.Thao and Mirah each wrote a new batch of beautiful songs which were jointly performed and produced by the three with some help from fine Bay Area friends. The album is a collection of songs from two distinctly different, highly respected songwriters, threaded and woven together with the creative energy and freedom of collaboration. Such freedom allowed for varied and rewarding levels of innovation, and a determination to keep the music-making as in-house as possible: both Thao and Mirah assume many of the instrumentation duties: from drums and bottles to slide guitar and knee caps. All songs maintain the writers' shared gifts: profound emotional poignancy with lyrics and melodies to match and stay with you.
Both Thao and Mirah work closely with Air Traffic Control- an organization dedicated to helping musicians become better social activists. They will team up with ATC to focus the release and touring efforts of Thao and Mirah toward supporting causes and organizations they love.