Mith

This highly accomplished found object-based visual artist (born in Alabama during Jim Crow, now almost seventy) performs improvised then embellished songs based on keyboard and voice. Loose, lush, earnest, impassioned, often played in free rhythm, surreal and cosmic. Ecstatically visionary in a way that recalls Gil Scott-Heron, Van Morrison, Stevie Wonder, and Sun Ra alike. One of a kind. Favorites: 1, 4, 7, 9, 10. Many FCCs on 5, possible FCC on 3.

1. *(7:24)—Mellow, dulcet keys. Spaced-out horn. Some wah-wah organ too. “I’m a suspect in America.” Beautiful ending.
2. (7:00)—Bobbing, slightly jazzy piano. Whistling. Buoyant and light-hearted sax solo. Ringing finish.
3. (4:43)—FCC (maybe “dumb s***”). Meandering mid-tempo beat, shaker, wobbly bass.
4. *(17:52)—Epic, mournful narrative. Deep, slow piano and bass. Hand drums, synths. Vocals delivered like gospel testimony, painful and vivid descriptions of slavery and the slave trade. Closes with futuristic visions. Lots of glacial, atmopsheric, interlocking parts building to long, cathartic crests.
5. (5:35)—FCC (many f-bombs). Agitated and dissonant.
6. (6:47)—Bouncy, slow, off-kilter. Bird imitations?
7. *(7:50)—Almost ambient. Very slow and low synth pulses, high arpeggios and laser sounds. Cool grainy tom rolls and bells.
8. (5:26)—Relaxed jazz with water sounds and lots of multitracked vocals.
9. *(7:18)—Slow, loping, a bit dubby. Deep, grand brass.
10. *(7:02)—Happy C-major piano jam, free and loose.