Songs from the Black Mountain Project

Using a Tascam four-track and mini-disc recorder, along with a motley array of instruments including steel drum, accordion, zither, and banjo, Mirah and Ginger made an album into a working holiday. The emphasis is on "holiday" instead of work, though; the chirping birds, lonesome train whistles, and buzzing insects that pop up throughout "Songs from the Black Mountain Music Project" make it feel like a collection of audio postcards from Takahashi and Mirah's vacation. Not surprisingly, the album has more than a little in common with Mirah's "You Think It's Like This But Really It's Like This" and "Advisory Committee," seamlessly fusing spirituality, sensuality, and nature into beautifully vulnerable, confessional music, but "Songs from the Black Mountain Music Project" is on a smaller scale. "Songs from the Black Mountain Music Project" may have started out as an experiment, but its best moments transcend its origins.