Miwa Gemini: This Is How I Found You

Some records deserve total late-night attention. Other music needs headphones, or a live setting, or is ideal for when friends are over. Miwa Gemini’s second record is full of pretty songs that aren’t too radical or terribly profound, yet her floating voice seems perfect for the kind of half-life experience that is afforded by shopping or waiting for someone in a restaurant. “Something Ordinary” has a satisfying Zen-like essence in its rhythmic plod, and in lines such as “I want something that’s more like everyday” and “I hope this is something ordinary / Cos’ you know that is where magic is hiding.” This slippery song may be the centerpiece of This Is How I Found You. Like the proverbial wet fish, let it lie in the palm of your hand, and don’t lose it by squeezing too tight.

A crunchy, faux-blues feeling comes across on both “Traveling Man” and “Pieces”. Some tracks feature piano and percussion to suggest a weightier dimension beyond the clean production but this is never quite sustained. “Angel’s Prayer” starts so quietly that I wonder if it’s been leveled correctly — before its pleasing dissonant upswing. Miwa Gemini could have made a good EP but as her ideas run together and the sound gets bogged down, the album fades. That said, she has an easy intensity and it’s not hard to imagine snippets of her music being featured on some popular TV show any day now…