October 31 — “Mt. St. Helens” by Mirah

Mirah

If you only listen to one song today, make it “Mt. St. Helens” by Mirah (2002, from the album Advisory Committee).

Mirah Yom Tom Zeitlyn is an indie/folk singer-songwriter who was born near Philadelphia and calls San Francisco home. She works under the mononym Mirah. Since 2000, she’s released four albums and a bunch of other releases. She’s also done a bunch of collaborations with Phil Elverum (of Mount Eerie) and also frequently with Thao Nguyen (of Thao & The Get Down Stay Down).

Today’s song comes from her second album. It’s the only one of hers that I have.

She grew up in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. As a point of useless trivia, that’s also the hometown of Hobie Baker, for whom the Hobie Baker Award was named. That award is given annually to the best collegiate hockey player in the US. Baker was a two-sport star at Princeton and a hot shot amateur player after graduation before being killed in World War I. When the Hockey Hall of Fame was founded in Toronto in 1945, Baker was among the nine initial inductees, and the only American.

Anyway, Mirah moved to Olympia, Washington to attend the hippie factory Evergreen State College. I assume that’s where she met Phil Elverum. Among the other notable musicians who went to Evergreen State College: Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein (of Sleater-Kinney), Lois Maffeo, Kathleen Hanna and Tobi Vail (from Bikini Kill), Calvin Johnson (of Beat Happening and founder of K Records), Justin Trosper and Sara Lund (of Unwound). Also, Matt Groening (The Simpsons) and Michael Richards (Kramer from Seinfeld).

Today’s song may or may not have been inspired by Mirah’s time in Washington State. The famous volcano is just a couple of hours away from Olympia. The song isn’t directly about the catastrophic eruption in the spring of 1980, but it is about the destruction of a relationship, which she compares to the volcanic disaster.

“Mt. St. Helens” by Mirah

I love how it starts off slow and simple, and slowly builds as the tempo changes, her guitar gets a little louder, the drums come in, a heavily affected guitar comes in (low in the mix), a piano comes in. By 2:45, it’s a bit of chaos. Not loud, crazy, unchecked aggression. Nothing quite like that. I guess it’s controlled chaos. And then, around the 3:00 mark, everything starts to back out of the picture until it gets softer and simpler, and it finally ends with just her voice and guitar.

Here’s part of the lyrics, which tell the tale of a couple taking a day trip to Mt.St. Helens. They break up.

There had been a great disaster.
The hot winds came just after.
A tremendous shock was filmed.
Survivors often tell…
The trees all hit the ground.
Death was all around. but.
Not a single lonesome sound.

The example lay before you.
You knew what you had to do.
You had the pressure in you to destroy the one who loved you.
The death was all around.

You were hotter to me than the sun that
burnt me up the day we went to Mount Saint Helens.
And if the special death you gave to me is the prize I get to take home…
Silently suffer with the fact that I could never be your friend.
I could never come back home again.

Her lover did to her what the volcano did to the surrounding ecosystem. It destroyed everything. In the end, she knows that she can’t go to “being friends”.

Even though this is a great song, it’s ridiculous to say that the emotional impact of the demise of a romantic relationship is like the environmental impact left by a huge volcanic explosion. Some areas never recover. Some take centuries. The area around Mt. St. Helens is just barely starting to grow back after more than 30 years. Broken hearts are not quite the same.

You can order Advisory Committee from the K Records web store here. Shop around while you’re there. Get a bunch of stuff. Use the code BOO to get 15% off. Also, all US orders get free shipping.