"Mia Doi Todd is a true artist, with a punch so delicate it will knock you flat out."

Mia Doi Todd ~ Zeroone
(City Zen)

Mia Doi Todd is a ghost. Or more accurately, a phantasm. Or maybe she’s an injured bird, or some uncatchable shadow, or the incense that settles into the forgotten folds of time. This is art unfolding in real time, and if you have any patience or sturdy attention span, you will be deeply rewarded.

With nothing more than an acoustic guitar, voice, and Macintosh G4, Todd has crafted ten songs of compelling mystery and wild solitude. Her voice lies directly between that of Joni Mitchell and Cat Power, but she has a way of rounding out her words and scooping out the middle that is beautifully haunting– and all her own. There is a sense that one can never really know Todd’s songs, but something about the fragile strength of them makes one want to try again and again… like the opium- and lust-laden poetry of the Romantics. Todd’s world is equally bittersweet, with tales of dragging dead bodies out to sea, overflowing chamberpots, obsession, barren plains, dark forests, and dirty feet in poppy fields.

There are ten songs on Zeroone, but as was the case with Todd’s two previous albums, their names aren’t really important. What matters is that they exist and that they will take up tranquil residence in your mind and soul (as opposed to simply your brain and body). In a swollen sea of Lilithy, female neo-folkies, Mia Doi Todd is the real deal, a true artist with a punch so delicate it will knock you flat out. –Scott D. Lewis

 

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