The Magician's Private Library (Bonus Track Version)

iTunes Review

With 2010’s The Magician’s Private Library, Detroit-bred Holly Miranda resumes the solo career she abandoned to become a member of the Jealous Girlfriends. For her re-entrance into the single life, she’s enlisted producer Dave Sitek from TV On the Radio. Sitek drapes these songs in a multitude of approaches and sounds until Miranda nearly disappears in the production fog. It’s not such a bad place for Miranda to be. It allows tunes such as “Joints” and “Waves” to float past as ethereal dreams (three tracks reference sleep or dreams in their title) where the echo, reverbs and hazy shades of backing musicians coalesce into a blurry forest of sound. Miranda’s voice slips in and out of the mix, leaving plenty of sonic holes for Sitek to fill with synthesizers, strings and samples. When she does appear, it’s for creepy and crazy whoops of romantic rapture and mystical ecstasy that resemble a tightly wound Mazzy Star. “High Tide,” with its ‘70s-styled electric pianos, is an alluring highlight.