Mia Doi Todd / Cosmic Ocean Ship
By the Ambassador

On her Ninth album, this singer/songwriter delivers some tender and beautiful tunes influenced in part by a trip to Brazil. Mia sounds like a cross between Joni Mitchell and Beth Orton with lyrics and aesthetic closer to Devandra Banhart. FCC Clean. The whole album is nice and mellow, but I recommend tracks: #5, #7, #1, #3, #4 & #10

1)* acoustic, fragile, meditative – very nice album opener with slow build vocals, acoustic guitar and hand percussion; 2) pleasant ditty about a lover in Paris, with French-pop touches; 3)* lilting, sun-drenched tune with hypnotic guitar, hand percussion and Mia’s beautiful vocals; 4)* sounding like Joni on this one, Mia skips along at a playful pace, with guitar, keys, hand percussion; 5)** gorgeous tribute to summer love – perfectly lazy and sunny with tinkling piano, quiet trap drums, guitar accents and bucolic lyrics describing the pleasures of summer; 6) slow, meditative with acoustic guitar and vocals only; 7)** great cover of this afro-brazilian classic – starts off with ghostly layered vocals, then builds into psychedelic samba towards the end; 8) fragile tune with very personal lyrics with vocals, piano, harp, finger picked guitar; 9) darker mid-tempo groove with delicate guitar and echo-y percussion; 10)* Spanish-language Chilean classic with voice, faintly strummed guitar and the slightest percussion. Very haunting and beautiful.