Mia Loucks – Sister Honey Demos LP
Gilgongo Records“Bedroom music” as a genre is perhaps questionable, and yet when first hearing the cassette that these songs were originally released on, this was the thought that I was fixated on. Mia’s music can be easily referred to as pretty or “a little angsty”, or simple and sweet, or “a little early Cat Power or Liz Phair” …but there is a rudimentary nature embedded in these songs that, for me, transcends any given era and makes them feel all the more legitimate. It’s the contrast of harmony with the grittiness of “lo-fi” that strikes a chord and drew me in. All the more compelling to me was the fact that she was truly a “bedroom” musician. Mia was not sending e-mails to labels trying to get someone to put a record out for her; she wasn’t even playing shows or sharing her music publicly. She had given some recordings to a childhood friend of her sister, and they were moved by them as such that they and their husband released the cassette on their label, Related Records. Releasing records for artists and groups is interesting because the judgement to do so can be clouded by many external factors (many of which are completely understandable and usually somehow relate to finances). …of course: it’s not feasible to press records of every single small thing that you come across and enjoy, but every now and then, Gilgongo has allowed me to try and share truly obscure material, even on the macro level of “sub-culture” or “independent music”, releases that mattered to me enough to go through the motions of making them physical and available to the outside world as best as I can. Mia’s LP is a perfect example of why I enjoy releasing records – James Fella, November 2016