Solo Recordings at Home

Solo Recordings at Home is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter and musician Michael Gira. It was released in 2001 through Gira's own record label, Young God Records.[1][2][3] The album features Gira's home recordings.[4]

Solo Recordings at Home
Studio album by
Michael Gira
Released2001
Length61:16
LabelYoung God
ProducerMichael Gira
Michael Gira chronology
What We Did
(2001)		 Solo Recordings at Home
(2001)		 Living '02
(2002)

The unreleased track from the home recording sessions were included in the album The Milk of M. Gira: Selected Solo Home Recordings 2001-2010, released in 2011.[5]

Background and music

Solo Recordings at Home is primarily an acoustic album, "placing the emphasis on Gira's voice and guitar only, captured at home via one microphone."[4] Nevertheless, the track "Irish Queen" was roughly recorded during a concert and the fully orchestrated track "God's Servant" was taken directly from the Angels of Light's New Mother (1999). The album also features reworkings of two Swans tracks, "I Remember Who You Are" and "Love Will Save You," from The Burning World (1989) and White Light From the Mouth of Infinity (1991), respectively.[4]

The songs on the album feature lyrics on various topics. The track "Kosinsky" was described as "a fascinating contrast to the lyrical meditation on voyeurism" while the tracks "Surrogate" and "On the Mountain" were described to be "among his bluntest ever."[4]

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[4]

Allmusic critic Ned Raggett wrote: "In keeping with his post-Swans work, though, Gira's singing balances command with empathy, cracked and tender at once; anyone not taken with his late-'90s singing won't be convinced here, though fans will find it addictive." Raggett further wrote: "His guitar playing similarly can shift on a dime from sudden, brusque runs to gentler, steady fingerpicking, evoking everything from strung out rural blues to Nick Drake's hushed emptiness while still sounding uniquely in his own style."[4]

Track listing

All songs written by Michael Gira.

  1. "What You Were" – 5:36
  2. "All Souls' Rising" – 5:55
  3. "Love Will Save You" – 4:46
  4. "Surrogate" – 5:45
  5. "Kosinsky" – 4:47
  6. "On The Mountain" – 6:31
  7. "Waiting Beside Viragio" – 2:19
  8. "Someone Like Me" – 4:47
  9. "I Remember Who You Are" – 4:57
  10. "Mosquito Coast" – 5:11
  11. "Irish Queen" – 4:41
  12. "God's Servant" – 4:48
  13. "Mary Found John" – 1:13

Personnel

References
  1. Nasrallah, Dimitri (October 24, 2010). "Michael Gira: From Uncompromising Swans to Ethereal Angels of Light". Exclaim!. Retrieved July 29, 2015.
  2. Raggett, Ned. "Michael Gira". Allmusic. Retrieved July 29, 2015.
  3. "Swans". Trouser Press. Retrieved July 29, 2015.
  4. Raggett, Ned. "Michael Gira - Solo Recordings at Home". Allmusic. Retrieved July 29, 2015.
  5. Sherburne, Philip (November 27, 2011). "M. Gira, The Milk of M. Gira: Selected Solo Home Recordings 2001-2010". Wondering Sound. Retrieved July 29, 2015.
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