Lisa Miller is an artist whose music is heavily bound up with associations for me - Melbourne associations at that. Four times seen live (twice at CERES in summer - the second time especially significant - and in between at an in retrospect poignant Harvest Festival, and also at Readings), a particular song that hit me hard in that period when I was falling into country music and into the end of university and all that entailed and which is still one of my favourites ("Little Stars"), and of course many others along the way (egs 1, 2, 3, 4), stretching back to, was it even high school?, borrowing Quiet Girl With A Credit Card from the local library and having it work its way deep (in retrospect, a precursor of the later country music thing); hearing the excellent "Wipe The Floor" on a triple r soundscape compilation maybe a year or so on, early in uni, during that period where everything, not least (and in some ways especially) music, seemed to be opening up.
Anyway, Meet the Misses is a backwards look for Miller, re-recordings of a bunch of songs from her first two albums, Quiet Girl and As Far As A Life Goes. Some of the strength of those associations I was getting at before is a matter of personal historical happenstance, as is always the way, but just as much is down to the music itself, which, allusive, nostalgic, intimate, and brightly-toned, lends itself to such connections. Her takes on these old numbers on Meet the Misses took a couple of listens for me; they tend to sound initially a bit smoothed-out, maybe even a bit lounge-y (I particularly missed the greater stomp and verve of the original takes on "Wipe The Floor" and "Hang My Head", but the charms of these re-recordings have revealed themselves over a few more listens, putting a new complexion on the ones that I was familiar with, and gently introducing the others, showing what great songs they are, even if done over in a slightly different style.
Anyway, Meet the Misses is a backwards look for Miller, re-recordings of a bunch of songs from her first two albums, Quiet Girl and As Far As A Life Goes. Some of the strength of those associations I was getting at before is a matter of personal historical happenstance, as is always the way, but just as much is down to the music itself, which, allusive, nostalgic, intimate, and brightly-toned, lends itself to such connections. Her takes on these old numbers on Meet the Misses took a couple of listens for me; they tend to sound initially a bit smoothed-out, maybe even a bit lounge-y (I particularly missed the greater stomp and verve of the original takes on "Wipe The Floor" and "Hang My Head", but the charms of these re-recordings have revealed themselves over a few more listens, putting a new complexion on the ones that I was familiar with, and gently introducing the others, showing what great songs they are, even if done over in a slightly different style.
