Miranda Lee Richards
THE HERETHEREAFTER
(VIRGIN)

Gauzy-voiced singer/songwriter Miranda Lee Richards has some friends in high places — she’s also got talent to go along with her good connections. A waifish ex-model and godchild of underground cartoonist R. Crumb, Richards did her first demos with Metallica’s Kirk Hammett, played flute with Brian Jonestown Massacre, and then attracted folks like multi-instrumentalist Jon Brion and members of Beachwood Sparks to contribute to a debut CD that glistens with an alluring mix of wonder and wisdom.

Apart from a cover of the Stones’ "Dandelion" that’s reimagined as a willowy lullaby, Richards wrote the lion’s share of songs on The Herethereafter, and she plays acoustic and electric guitars, piano, harpsichord, glockenspiel, Hammond organ, and assorted percussion. Taking a sun-dappled approach pitched somewhere between the electro-folk luminescence of Beth Orton and the laid-back hippie-chick groove of Sheryl Crow, she follows a Gypsy’s path to enchanted enlightenment — picking up and setting down ideas, moments, and moods like stones in the road, turning them over in her hand along the way. "I don’t know where I’m goin’/But I got no reason to fear," she sings with a flower child’s faith on "The Beginner," the track that opens the album with a breezy blend of Beckish beats and loping acoustic guitar. "I’m gonna roll with the changes/I’m gonna play it by ear." When it comes to ears, Richards can be sure of one thing: she’s already got a good pair.

(Miranda Lee Richards performs with Nikka Costa next Friday, December 7, at the Paradise. Call 617-423-NEXT.)

Issue Date: November 29 - December 6, 2001

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