ERIN MUIR is the mystical variety of bohemian female who banks heavily off her extraordinary experiences and life journeys to create music. Her first, full-length album, Poet’s Lovely Daughter, is a collection of these eclectic moments, emotions and imaginations in their rawest and most honest form. Erin has combined her affinity for music with her undeniable talent for an album as passionate and tender as it is sexy and entrancing.
Raised in the outskirts of Minneapolis in Sauk Rapids, Minnesota, a town Erin calls “socially progressive yet culturally provincial,” 5-year-old Erin was already studying classical voice and piano. At 12-years-old, Erin was writing operas and books. She began performing live soon after and garnered the attention of the Dean of Music at a local university who took her under his pedagogic wings.
Erin always had acumen for classical music yet beneath her immense operatic vocals and composition prowess, she maintained a wild hair about the whole thing. This defiance toward authority and social norms became a template for how Erin led her life. At Saint Olaf College’s School of Music, she found the educational system and its cultural morays beautiful yet constricting. She eventually dropped out, sold her possessions and went on tour with her band in a Vanagon to pursue her own songwriting.
With various incarnations of this band, Erin continued touring – and essentially living – this time in a 1973 Vogue RV, across the United States and Europe. At one point she very nearly became hausfrau to a sort of German cavalier and along the way took part in a cabaret with the burlesque troupe, Le Cirque Rouge de Gus. All the while Erin continued to be creative through musical means. It was an epiphany to finally fulfill where she knew she was destined to be which ultimately brought Erin to Los Angeles.
Erin admits to be taken by the tumultuous culture of Los Angeles and felt she had lost herself. It took a trip to India where she sang from a boat on the Ganges River that where she remembered herself. She brought her fresh approach back to Los Angeles and into the studio with producer Bernie Larsen, who helped shape and arrange Erin’s brimming ideas. As Erin poured into the studio with acoustic versions of her songs each day, Bernie breathed colorful life into each idea, transforming the skeletal basics into full-bodied tracks. “I had never met anyone who hears like him,” marvels Erin. “He brought a lot of stuff – his ear, mostly his vision. Bernie is visionary in a way different from anything I know. Every day I was thrilled to be in the studio.”
“Erin has the surreal imagination of any of the great writers, and an intuitive sense about all things. The time we spent in the studio was beyond the normal experience for me, because there was such an instantaneous connection on a spiritual level. We just let the music happen without ever really talking about it in words. Getting to be in the "sacred" zone for an entire project just does not happen often.“
For someone who quotes Stevie Nicks one second and Aristotle the next, it was just a matter of time before Erin tapped into her talents and creativity once again. Poet’s Lovely Daughter showcases the deep, alto timbre of Erin’s vocals, creating a warm, fulfilling aura throughout the album. The accompanying instrumental arrangements add the perfect backdrop for this 10-track odyssey through the sublime.
Songs like “Supernatural” start off with a whirlwind string arrangement, the percussions of an ancient ritual barreling forward. Erin’s voice cuts through like a prominent wind, her voice encompassing the mysticism of Annie Lenox and robust intonation of Fiona Apple’s lowest registers. To Erin, this song embodies the album’s overall theme, upholding the enchantment of romance, sex and life in its most realistically vulnerable form. “In these lines I do not promise anything true or false / But in all ideas and in all songs hide the secret laws of love / Love will open up your eyes to what is truly here”
The title track bears quite the historical background. “Poet’s Lovely Daughter” is a tribute to women – in particular 17th century witch and prophetess Mother Shipton, a close friend of Erin’s whose name means “poet’s daughter” and Erin, herself. A violin calls out throughout the track, its crisp and wiry melodies run wayward throughout this magical tale. “It’s about witchy woman and being burnt at the stake,” explains Erin, “whether that’s being burnt figuratively or literally.”
Bernie muses, “There was a point when we recorded the Poets Lovely Daughter track, and the only direction I gave the violinist was to play like a gypsy around a campfire. Erin came in and had no idea I was bringing a violinist in and after he left, I had her sing and it was magical. As I was mixing the song, my back was to her, and she said she was on fire and I said I know. Then she said, ‘No, no, no. I'm on fire,’ and I turned around and her shirt was engulfed in flames.”
“Shadows and Silt” invokes images of revelrous salsa dancing and warm night breezes from a southern gulf. Incarnations of finding love through music and dance, the sweet seduction of the wandering melodies of a Spanish guitar and the undeniable hip-swaying beat abound. “Music is a cool conduit because it affects not just your intellectual mind but your whole body,” says Erin.
A childlike singsong of introduces “Black Butterfly” as a hazy bossa nova guitar strums throughout. The playfulness of “Lost Among Lilies” turns fairy tales into realities of love while songs like “Heart Given” – co-written by Erin and Bernie – could verily be biographical. “There was a sense of fear that came through working on a record as deeply personal as this,” says Erin. “If there’s fear now, it’s exciting because it means I’m about to do something I’ve never done before.”
This is Erin in her element. While her last two projects consisted of a rock band and a burlesque group, they were merely images for the sake of art. Poet’s Lovely Daughter is Erin being playful as a rock and roller and sexy as a cabaret coquette on her own terms.
I think we should talk Rob into booking us in Berlin and Barcelona,Paris, Dublin. My son Jason is Playing Romania tomorrow nite to Aberdeen ,Scotland to three nights at the Royal Albert Hall, to Vienna. He is the sax man on most of the tunes on my page just him and me on Heavy Red Curtain
Hey, thanks for the friend request. We are looking for new management clients for 2010. Email us if you interested. We are taking on graphic design projects (MySpace layouts, album artwork, t-shirt deigns), anything you or your bands needs we can do.
3 song recording special going on now at various studios we book at. Looking to record and want the BEST recordings email us!
Hi, it was my good fortune to meet you and catch you fabulous set. Nothing on the books live for December and nothing in LA. Need an agent. I think we belong in Barcelona or Berlin for what we are doing. All peace and love, John
hey! Remember us?!? Did you know we just posted FOUR NEW SONGS?!~! please please please check it out and let us know what you think!! we worked hard at making these more pop than pepsi, so hopefully it paid off! thanks for adding us by the way! HOW'D YOUR MONDAY GO?!
Thanks for your request. Very good profile information and song previews at your page. You are welcome to listen to new tracks from our latest cd "After Hours" and check out the latest page updates as well. Continued success in your upcoming projects. Have a great week!
