"I can only place blame on the things that I know..."
Watching meija, the moniker of musical Houdini Jamie Sierota, along with a bevy of amazingly talented musicians (and assorted dinner guests), performing "Matter Over Mind" absolutely LIVE and committing it all to tape is a wonderful, mind boggling piece of art. The sonics here are exquisite, from Ralph Lattmore's wonky upright bass slides, to Sarah Sofaie's ultra bottom heavy droning baritone Sax work, Giovan Polanco's psychedelic lounge electric guitar, Jay Rudolph's shifting surfy drum beats and Jamie's 12 string acoustic and truly compelling vocal countenance building a sort of drunken, carnival mirror atmosphere. Key in the big ascensions and gritty, beautiful noisy bits are Jamie's pushing in samples of swelling synth arpeggios.
It is a glorious and wonderfully weird tight rope act. When you listen multiple times as I have, you notice more compositional nuances, more puzzle pieces that are all important. I can't imagine any of the pieces missing. Amazing sound, performance of a totally artful unique song.
Bravissimo!
The following is from press notes. I am not usually a paste up writer but for those of us who have lived under a rock, these details are important.
[Having launched his career at age 15 in the hit pop band Echosmith (he is currently writing and producing with them again, including the viral new version of their hit single “Cool Kids” but left the band in his early twenties), Sierota spent the better part of the last decade producing and writing singles in a very digital way for artists like Adam Lambert, Aly & AJ, JAWNY, and Quinn XCII. The new EP includes his synth-drenched, hazy alt-rock singles, “Pull Me To Pieces,” “No More Excuses” and “Not Sure How This Ends.”
After being inspired by The Beatles’ documentary and digging into his vinyl collection, he decided for Side A that he wanted to relearn how to write and record in a completely analog fashion. Explaining, "I set up a little cassette recorder in the middle of the room were we played live, and just hit 'play.' I was trying to see how far I could get without using a synthesizer so I put guitars through weird tape machines or through, like, loops. Vocals were put through a guitar amp. I've never done something like this before. I usually don't work this way at all.”]
After being inspired by The Beatles’ documentary and digging into his vinyl collection, he decided for Side A that he wanted to relearn how to write and record in a completely analog fashion. Explaining, "I set up a little cassette recorder in the middle of the room were we played live, and just hit 'play.' I was trying to see how far I could get without using a synthesizer so I put guitars through weird tape machines or through, like, loops. Vocals were put through a guitar amp. I've never done something like this before. I usually don't work this way at all.”]
Peace Out.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
https://twitter.com/jamiesierota
https://www.youtube.com/@meija1872/videos
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5Uc38SFcTd4bzDk3hhvRu1
https://www.facebook.com/meijameijameija
Under the guise of meija, LA based producer and songwriter Jamie Sierota makes music for our collective inner child. His synth-drenched, indie pop adjacent brand of rock mines the simple moments we tend to ignore, those that tend to mean far more than we'd like to admit. With the release of his 2019 debut EP, So Long Kid, and the 2021 follow up EP, Premonition, he has explored themes of nostalgia and naive love and what that all means in a messy and sometimes chaotic world. It has gained him a loyal fan following with over 15 million streams worldwide and praise from outlets like Earmilk, Complex, Ladygunn, KCRW, and more.
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