Stream: Miranda Lee Richards, ‘7th Ray’

Daiana Feuer on November 5th, 2015

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What does it mean to describe a song as “psychedelic?” Most dictionaries say psychedelic pertains directly to “suggesting the effects of psychedelic drugs by having bright colors, strange sounds, etc,” which is a little close-minded. By that definition, Miranda Lee Richards’ new song is not psychedelic. It isn’t strange at all. In fact, it’s extremely mellow, easy to sink into and relaxing as a bath. But in this warm bath you come to consider the journey of your soul and subconscious experience, and perhaps the dictionary would argue that people only come into contact with that abstract sense of self on drugs. And since “7th Ray” begins with the line “You came in on the 7th ray of the 7th day of the year,” we’re all clearly high if we can connect to the imagery.

OK, this concludes our brief battle with the limited worldview of online dictionaries. Instead let’s get back to Miranda Lee Richards and her folk-rock stuff, a woman who learned guitar from Kirk Hammet of Metallica, by the way. “7th Ray” is a cut from her first album in six years, “Echoes Of The Dreamland,” recorded at home with producer Rick Parker (who has worked with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Lord Huron). It will be released by Invisible Hands Music on Jan. 29. Setting the mood, Richards says her first single is “about transformation, about the journey of the soul in this lifetime. You start off beautiful, innocent and sure of yourself, and along the way, things happen that allow disillusionment to set in.” The song comes to a positive conclusion “where you find a new way to experience more joy and contentment, reclaiming a relationship with your true self in the process,” she says. Anyone can benefit from putting that in their pipe.

||| Stream: “7th Ray”