| (a)spera | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
_Cover_Art.jpg) | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | March 10, 2009 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Label | K | |||
| Mirah chronology | ||||
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(a)spera is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriterMirah, released on March 10, 2009.[1] Produced byPhil Elverum, it met with a largely positive reception from music critics. According toPopMatters about the album, "The musical marriage of Mirah and Elvrum is one of those rare perfect meeting of the minds—Jay-Z andKanye,Butch Vig andKurt Cobain,Phil Spector and... basically anyone who can sing.[2]
(a)spera was the first album after a four-year hiatus by Mirah, after time spent working on collaborations andremixes of previous albums.[3]Phil Elverum produced and engineered the album, as with many of her previous releases. It was released on March 10, 2009, on Olympia labelK Records.[1]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [4] |
| Dusted | (positive)[5] |
| Pitchfork Media | (7.8/10)[6] |
| PopMatters | (8/10)[2] |
| Spin |  [7] |
The track received positive reviews, including 4/5 stars fromAllmusic,[4] a positive review inDusted Magazine,[5] 7.8/10 byPitchfork Media,[6] 8/10 byPopMatters,[2] and 3.5/5 stars fromSpin.[7]
According to PopMatters, "The musical marriage of Mirah and Elvrum is one of those rare perfect meeting of the minds—Jay-Z andKanye,Butch Vig andKurt Cobain,Phil Spector and... basically anyone who can sing. One could easily imagine Mirah being just another songwriter, singing turgid ballads about loneliness over an acoustic guitar (and indeed there is the occasional disturbing flash of this in her work), but through the intelligent production of Elvrum, and indeed, some of the other producers on(a)spera, she is able to set her thoughts upon soaring mountains of musical genius."[2]
All tracks are written byMirah, except where noted
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Generosity" | 3:43 |
| 2. | "The World Is Falling" | 5:00 |
| 3. | "Education" | 5:18 |
| 4. | "Shells" (Kane Mathis, Mirah) | 2:31 |
| 5. | "Country of the Future" | 3:34 |
| 6. | "The Forest" | 3:29 |
| 7. | "Gone Are the Days" | 3:40 |
| 8. | "The River" | 7:49 |
| 9. | "Bones & Skin" | 3:11 |
| 10. | "While We Have the Sun" (originally recorded in 2003; new version) | 4:40 |
