DIASPORA

Emerging from the Amsterdam suburb city of Almere is MIRA SNELDER who fits the classic description of bedroom musician and music nerd extraordinaire having soaked in such disparate musical genera such as prog rock, classical, jazz, electronic with experimental touches and threw it all into a steaming cauldron of creativity and threw it all out there for the world to hear! Well good luck in the modern world where anybody can throw an album out there thus making it a crowded scene indeed.

One of the benefits of evaluating music on ProgArchives on the PSIKE team (means PSychedleic, Indo-raga, Krautrock and progressive Electronic) is that i get exposed to a lot of suggestions that i NEVER would have had the chance to sniff out on my own. (I'm also on the eclectic prog team as well as the jazz-fusion team). This is one such artist since there is absolutely no info on the internet other than a lonely Bandcamp page that features four albums and thankfully an already existing page on Rate Your Music!

This is obviously a one-person band and MIRA self-describes music and person as such: "Out-of-the-box electronic aural contemplations with a wide variety of influences from rock, jazz and classical music, created by a sentient transgender houseplant from the Netherlands." MIRA was previously involved in the psychedelic rock band Kepler which she co-founded and soon after resorted to become one of those one-person bands that are more common these days.

With three albums in the canon, DIASPORA is the debut which came out in 2017 and seems to have been crafted over a three year period with all the t's crossed and all the i's dotted. Starting off as somewhat of a progressive electronic type of album, this all-instrumental album sallies forth into the world of eclectic progressive rock with classical keyboards, electronic wizardry, episodes of rock heft all fortified with jazz-infused sensibilities that literally sound unique and refreshing. Her influences include National Health, Frank Zappa, Henry Cow, Rascal Reporters, Soft Machine, Brand X, Egg, Area, Cardiacs, ELP, Goldie and György Ligeti thus the strong connection to progressive rock, jazz-fusion (including the Canterbury Scene) and avant-garde classical not to mention the Berlin School progressive electronica.

DIASPORA is a true joy to listen to and despite the avant-garde tag remains accessible in a classic prog sort of way yet is without a doubt very contemporary sounding with a beautiful mixing job and production. The most exciting aspect of DIASPORA is how easily MIRA connects myriads ideas together without missing a beat. The album features nine tracks with the highlight perhaps being the near 16-minute "Interregnum" which features seven distinct parts. The instruments involved included DAW, synthesizer, classical guitar, electric guitar, electric piano and found objects.

What's cool about DIASPORA is it doesn't just copy and paste influences from the past but rather transmogrifies them into something modern and fresh and doesn't forget the emotional connection that classic prog evoked. Nothing wrong with brutal prog and escaping your head avant-weirdness but it's always cool when someone can create beautiful music that is both complex and connects melodic constructs on an emotional level. Ih the case of MIRA SNELDER's debut DIASPORA, that is exactly what she composes. Despite this being a one-woman project, this is very professional sounding and a very warm invitation to explore the following two albums. Bravo!