7.8 Dangerbird
2015

Holly Miranda : Holly Miranda

When The Jealous Girlfriends (QRO spotlight on) broke up and main Girlfriend (and only actual girl in the band) Holly Miranda did the expected solo venture, 2010’s The Magician’s Private Library (QRO review) was nice, but not the ‘next step’ one had hoped for. Five years later she finally comes out with her self-titled follow-up – and it’s the next step one had hoped for.

Holly Miranda uses Miranda’s strengths well, such as her high wash of a voice that is still compelling on the fuzzy-but-incisive “Whatever You Want”, or her charm in the sweet & catchy rolling rock “All I Ever Want Is To Be Your Girl”. But it is the intimacy of the record that particularly stands out this time, from opener “Mark My Words” to the piano notes of closer “Hymnal”. There are standouts like “Whatever”, “All I Want”, and the excellent fuzzy sweetness of “Come On”, but also a ‘whole record’ feeling that pervades as well.

Maybe it has taken some years and some work for Holly Miranda to fully find herself, but she has on Holly Miranda.