Holly Miranda – The Magician’s Private Library (XL)

Here in the Midwest, we know a few things about the phenomenon known as “brain drain.” Young and talented people leave our surroundings in massive numbers, taking their talents and dreams with them as they discover big cultural meccas like New York, Los Angeles, and any number of proclaimed hipster capitals that offer the allure of a wider diversity and infinite possibilities.

The ruse is how these same locations can also manage to suck the life out of those young optimists, replacing their identities with a collage of outside influences until they no longer resemble the individual who arrived with such big dreams and ideas.

I bring this up because Holly Miranda is one of those examples of “brain drain,” albeit an unconventional one. After dropping out of her Michigan high school, Miranda turned a quick visit to her sister’s New York abode into her permanent zip code. There was something about the East Village that prompted a need to stay. It also spurred a creative drive which eventually led to an encounter with TV On The Radio‘s Dave Sitek. Sitek eventually agreed to man the controls of her solo debut, The Magician’s Private Library, a ten-song postcard of dreamy landscapes.

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