Miya Folick – “Thingamajig (Live)”
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If there’s one thing that we hope you got from our review of Miya Folick’s Premonitions that came out earlier this month, it’s that Folick has one of the most dynamic and powerful voices in the industry right now.
However, on her mostly ballad-filled album, Folick’s voice sometimes takes a backseat to the similarly shimmering production. But don’t be fooled. Songs like “Premonitions” and “Cost Your Love” may seem like they’re simple enough, but just try singing along to them yourself–Folick hits those notes with ease, belting out pseudo-operatic high notes like it’s nothing. Maybe that’s why it’s such a good idea that Folick released a live version of album opener “Thingamajig”, just a few weeks after the album came out.
The original, which was already sparse enough (there’s only a few strings and a looping vocal track backing her up), is stripped down even further on this new live version. Here, she’s only backed by a piano… but that’s all she needs to make an impact. Folick’s vocal ability is unavoidable this time around, and she only uses the piano as a guideline. There’s also a few noticeable differences: when Folick sings “I am smiling wide”, you can HEAR her breaking into one of her rare smiles in the recording. The way she controls her voice when she elongates her “I…” in between verses is incredible. There’s so much more emotion being put into the live version that gets flattened out by the one on the album. Hopefully this version of “Thingamajig” is a proof of concept–a stripped down version of the album would suit her material perfectly (she should release something like St. Vincent’s Masseducation!).
Simple is better in Folick’s case. If you’ve got a voice like hers, do you really need anything else?
Artist Pages: Facebook | Spotify
Li-Wei Chu is the chief editor of From the Intercom. When he’s not editing drafts and searching for new artists to cover for the website, he loves watching cult films, cooking, and listening to his ever-growing collection of vinyl records. You can follow him on LetterBoxd and make fun of his taste in movies here!
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