The following is an extended version of the article that appears in our October 2024 issue.
Miramar (Photo by Chris Smith)
Miramar’s forthcoming album, “Entre Tus Flores,” has been a trial by endurance, according to band leader Marlysse Simmons. “Between having a baby and COVID, it set us on a slower working pace for a few years, especially me,” she says.
Miramar, composed of keyboardist Simmons and vocalists Rei Alvarez and Laura Ann Singh, burst into the music scene eight years ago with a smoldering set of Latin bolero tunes on the album “Dedicated to Sylvia Rexach.” It was recorded in Richmond at Lance Koehler’s Minimum Wage Recording (where they also cut the basic tracks for the new album). A tribute to Rexach, the legendary Puerto Rican composer, the 10-song disc was met with national acclaim, including coverage from CNN and NBC, an NPR Tiny Desk concert, and performances across the globe.
While not exactly prolific, the band has contributed to a growing resurgence in bolero, a music traced back to the 19th century and fueled with minor chords, sinuous bass lines and a slow-motion groove. Unlike other Latin American song modes, boleros aren’t formulaic in terms of song construction. The original Spanish boleros were in 3/4 waltz time, while Cuban boleros are usually in 2/4. “It’s a malleable form,” Singh says.
Scheduled for an early January release, “Entre Tus Flores” continues the group’s exploration of traditional romantic boleros. It’s a more adventurous outing that finds the trio fusing the style with different elements, like a prominent modern backbeat and a lush 30-piece orchestra composed of Richmond Symphony musicians. Miramar will give a preview of the new album when they join the symphony on Oct. 5 at the Carpenter Theatre.
The change in sound is evident in their just-released first single, “Un Astro,” which features drummer Devonne Harris and bassist Andrew Randazzo of fellow Richmond act Butcher Brown. Lyrically, the tune recounts the 2018 birth of Simmons’ and Alvarez’s son, Desiderio. “This is Rei’s inspiration,” Simmons says. “It’s a very poetic way of describing this big change in our life.”
“Usually, my lyrics are about the tragedy of romance,” says Alvarez, who, along with his wife, Simmons, also performs in Richmond-based salsa stalwart Bio Ritmo. “But when my son was born, I kind of had this glimmer of hope happen in my heart in terms of life. A lot of positive, even happy songs have come out of it. I speak of him here as this astral body who came to Earth uninvited but welcome, and it made a third face out of two faces.”
“Un Astro” has the yearning of a classic bolero song but the feel of a dance track. “I know we’re going to turn some people off because our first album was very traditional in the feeling and instrumentation,” Simmons says, “but bolero is a very wide-reaching genre. Its movement and sentiment can be put to different rhythms. You can call this album ‘bolero rock.’”
Singh thinks that Miramar’s fans will appreciate the evolution. “We wanted to build on the traditional, almost folkloric sound of traditional boleros and start weaving in more of our influences and bring more of a ... I don’t know if it’s a contemporary sound, but more of a rock sound,” she says.
Alvarez adds that bolero has a global appeal. “This is a universal music, an essential expression of love, and people understand that,” he says.
The group’s 2020 visit to Russia proved that point (to date, Miramar are the last American performers to be sponsored to the country by the U.S. State Department). The trio performed with local string quartets in jazz clubs, regional orchestras in auditoriums, even in a rehab center. “Most of the people had not heard this kind of music before,” Alvarez says, “but these are chords that really tug at the heartstrings. We had people crying in some of those audiences. They didn’t know what we were singing about; it was just the music.”
Singh — who also performs with a variety of Richmond jazz and global music ensembles, from Quatro Na Bossa to the Doug Richards Orchestra — notes that most Americans have some familiarity with Latin music. “But in Russia, Spanish is completely off the radar,” she says. The Russians did know one song, she adds, and they requested it constantly: “Bésame Mucho.”
Simmons echoes the popularity abroad of the circa 1941 tune. “We also did a romantic song in the tradition of a bolero, a Russian song, very slow. Every country in the world has music that kind of follows in the bolero tradition: slow and sensuous.”
Miramar performs with the Richmond Symphony at the Dominion Energy Center’s Carpenter Theatre at 8 p.m. Oct. 5. Tickets start at $10.
