Music Life

After a pair of intriguing cover albums exploring her myriad influences, singer/songwriter Mia Doi Todd returns to original music on the evocative Music Life. A full decade has passed since the Los Angeles native last released a collection of her own songs, and the accumulated emotional weight of her experiences, particularly regarding motherhood and creativity, lends this set a reflective tone. Over the course of her career, Todds music has taken on something of a boho chic flair with a medley of global-oriented sounds folded into her unmistakably West Coast style. But like indie folk, folk-jazz, adult contemporary, or any of the other tags that have been applied to her music, this doesnt quite tell the whole story. Soft, melodic, and smart, the title track sets things in motion as Todd offers a bittersweet paean to the pleasures and perils of living ones existence as a musician. The effects of her latter-day interest in Brazilian music can be heard in its underlying tropical current as her dulcet voice rises and falls against the repeating chord patterns. The wistful travelogue Little Bird floats along on an even breezier Jobim-like samba pattern, while the exotic Mohinder and the Maharani takes a (somewhat heavy-handed) pass through the Indian subcontinent and If I Dont Have You pulses with gentle reggae rhythms. Chasing the muse, whether it be through myths, literature, travel, or her own inner landscapes is of utmost concern to her process, and for the most part she does so with a measured and well-read confidence. More than anything, though, the effects of becoming a mother and nurturing a child in the world seem to be a common thread running throughout Music Life. Todds concepts of family and the sense of community she brings to her recordings generally make for an engaging and thoughtful listen, especially on this return to songwriting. ~ Timothy Monger

ジェフ・パーカー、ミゲル・アトウッド・ファーガソン、ファビアーノ・ド・ナシメントというゲストアーティストの面子を見て気になったのだが、それ以上にこのミア・ドイ・トッドのシンガーとしての魅力に心を奪われた。美しく神秘的な雰囲気を持った彼女の歌声は、アナログ感のあるサウンドプロダクションのなかで、空間的な奥深さを感じさせる。淡々と紡がれるメロディと、グルーヴの変化によって後半に向かって徐々に盛り上がって行くM1の楽曲構築の絶妙さや、南米音楽の要素が色濃く反映されたM2、M4など、多彩な楽曲に一貫して強く響く歌声に注目して欲しい。
intoxicate (C)栗原隆行