Reviews
Essex Folk News
This review appeared in the June – August 2015 edition of Essex Folk News, published by the Essex Folk Association. It is reproduced here by kind permission of the author, Anna Bass, and the publisher.
This is not a CD to play to your six-year-old nephew – or your granny, unless she has a wicked sense of humour and is not offended by colourful vocabulary.
Miranda Pender’s new EP “Petrol Station Flowers” offers six tracks of ruthlessly observant commentary on various aspects of the human condition, and if the title made you chuckle, it’s a fair bet you’re going to enjoy the rest of it. The vocals are a little tentative at times, but this does not detract from the material – if anything, Miranda’s gentle, deadpan delivery allows the lyrics maximum impact. The album is beautifully produced and significantly enhanced by Richard Digance’s sensitive and skilled guitar accompaniment.
But the real stars here are the songs themselves. Miranda’s incisive wit is a devastating weapon, whether aimed at pretentious celebrities, inept boyfriends or cowardly captains. And yes, there’s enough profanity to earn a warning sticker bit don’t let that put you off – the songs are intelligent, articulate and well-crafted, and I’d be surprised if they don’t make you giggle a bit. Maybe quite a lot. There are two rather more serious songs in the collection – including a poignant recounting of an episode from Miranda’s family history – which made me want to hear more of this side of her.
I’d definitely recommend this CD, even if you don’t normally like humorous songs. Miranda’s subject matter and storytelling ability give the songs much wider appeal than mere novelties.
Miranda Pender’s new EP “Petrol Station Flowers” offers six tracks of ruthlessly observant commentary on various aspects of the human condition, and if the title made you chuckle, it’s a fair bet you’re going to enjoy the rest of it. The vocals are a little tentative at times, but this does not detract from the material – if anything, Miranda’s gentle, deadpan delivery allows the lyrics maximum impact. The album is beautifully produced and significantly enhanced by Richard Digance’s sensitive and skilled guitar accompaniment.
But the real stars here are the songs themselves. Miranda’s incisive wit is a devastating weapon, whether aimed at pretentious celebrities, inept boyfriends or cowardly captains. And yes, there’s enough profanity to earn a warning sticker bit don’t let that put you off – the songs are intelligent, articulate and well-crafted, and I’d be surprised if they don’t make you giggle a bit. Maybe quite a lot. There are two rather more serious songs in the collection – including a poignant recounting of an episode from Miranda’s family history – which made me want to hear more of this side of her.
I’d definitely recommend this CD, even if you don’t normally like humorous songs. Miranda’s subject matter and storytelling ability give the songs much wider appeal than mere novelties.
Newport News
This is an article that appeared in the Summer 2015 edition of Newport News, our village magazine. it is reproduced here by kind permission of the author, Nina Jones.
"On a late Saturday afternoon, Miranda met me at the Coach and Horses, the halfway point between our two homes, so we could discuss the inspiration behind her newly released CD, which features six of her own original songs. I had just finished work and was dressed in my usual garb, old jeans, boots, jumper, when Miranda came breezing in looking fab, dolled up to the nines, all ready for her birthday treat afterwards, a sublime, gastronomic experience at Midsummer House, the Michelin starred restaurant in Cambridge. We must have looked like the princess and the pauper as we sat in a cosy corner of the pub, me with my diet Coke and Miranda with her glass of wine, but who cared. We didn’t. We synchronised our watches. We had just an hour.
It’s amazing how in that short time we packed in so much and never stopped talking! Miranda kicked off by explaining the background to how she got started composing and singing her own songs, and surprised me by saying that even though she has always loved music, folk, in particular, it was only recently that she really started to become involved in the music scene herself. As a youngster she used to dabble around a bit with the guitar but playing it was never really a serious hobby and for many years she had concentrated more on all her other interests which include poetry, art, horse riding and gardening. But one evening in 2011 (so we really are talking about recent times here), she was on the computer with a glass of the nice stuff (of course) and a credit card, and for some strange reason – it must have been the plonk – two days later a brand new guitar landed on her doorstep! As her webpage states, she could just about remember how to tune the instrument, but that was it, so not a very auspicious start at all. However, after a few lessons and some encouragement from her tutor, Miranda grew more confident and began playing at acoustic sessions and open stages but she was up against all the pros at these venues, so hats off to Miranda, instead of cowering off stage, she began composing her own songs so she had something unique to offer when she went up and performed. Singing her own compositions, she said, also gave her ‘a bit of street cred’.
Her lyrics are very engaging and poke a gentle sense of fun at the absurdities of modern life and can come from anywhere: a newspaper headline, a snippet of conversation overheard; an incident from her family history. As she puts it herself: ‘My songs are generally light-hearted, but most have a serious point to make.’ They are very reflective, peppered with humour, and she definitely has a voice that suits the lyrics, and her guitar playing, with sensitive variations of pace and style, fits the words perfectly. She has sought inspiration from some of the legends in Folk, listing Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchel and Leonard Cohen as examples (one of the songs on her CD is very Leonard Cohen, particularly the opening guitar sequence and the way Miranda sings it – listen and you’ll see what I mean!). Miranda points out that all their songs are like poetry put to music, and she feels very strongly that the lyrics are just as important as the melody. ‘If you can’t relate to what is being sung then the song doesn’t mean anything,’ she says, and I couldn’t agree more and have to say her musical compositions all have a story to tell.
But how has Miranda managed to achieve so much in such a relatively short time, going from someone who couldn’t even tune her guitar properly, to someone recording a CD of her own work, and playing the guitar with Richard Digance, to boot! I mean here is a guy who is very much a legend in the music business, and has been since the 1970s. He supported Tom Jones in 87 concerts, for a start, and his list of achievements includes receiving the Gold Award from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors for his services to music in 2003! Listen out for some superb guitar accompaniment on Miranda’s CD from Richard; it’s top class!
Miranda says long before she met Richard in 2012, she had always had a bit of a crush on him, right back to when she was a teenager, and especially loves his composition ‘Migration Memoirs’ which he wrote for a TV wildlife documentary many years ago. It so happened, that on one particular evening in 2012, she was at a Folk gig at the Bluebell in Hempstead, when, lo and behold, Richard was there, playing centre stage. She couldn’t resist requesting he play her favourite piece, and he replied with the classic: ‘I’ll play if you sing it.’ Well, it was an offer she couldn’t refuse, so with knees knocking and her heart going like the clappers, she braved the stage, and stood beside her idol and gave it her best. ‘Unfortunately it was the worst performance of my life,’ Miranda’s laughs. She was so nervous, she could hardly get the words out of her mouth, let alone sing; however her courage paid dividends because from that day onwards, she and Richard stayed in touch, and as time went on, she had more opportunities to sing some of her own songs in front of him, and there was no denying he was impressed. So much so, that he invited her down to his studio in Wiltshire to record a selection of those songs, now on her CD. Miranda said this was a ‘tremendous privilege as he doesn’t do this for everybody’, and here was a wonderful example of a youthful fantasy coming true. ‘Never did I dream that forty years on Richard Digance, one of my teenage heroes, would be recording my work. It was quite unbelievable!’
Along with her new CD – love the title, Petrol Station Flowers, and the artwork on the album cover, compliments of our very own Barney Miller from the Newport News – Miranda is continuing to write and compose new songs, and play and sing in clubs and open mike night sessions. She is also looking forward to playing a 50-minute set at Saffron Walden’s Fete de la Musique on the 21st June, accompanied by her guitar tutor, Dan Ketteridge, so that’s a date to put in our diaries! But on top of that she is planning a new venture; setting herself up as a public singer/speaker, a novel idea that combines a balancing act of words and music, explaining her journey from rookie strummer to singer/songwriter and recording her own compositions. Miranda’s tale is all the more inspirational when you learn that she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008. This was when she truly became aware that she had to ‘grab those opportunities when they arose’. And, boy, is she grabbing them now!
To order Petrol Station Flowers by Miranda Pender please call or text 07896 354616, or email info@mirandapender.com."
"On a late Saturday afternoon, Miranda met me at the Coach and Horses, the halfway point between our two homes, so we could discuss the inspiration behind her newly released CD, which features six of her own original songs. I had just finished work and was dressed in my usual garb, old jeans, boots, jumper, when Miranda came breezing in looking fab, dolled up to the nines, all ready for her birthday treat afterwards, a sublime, gastronomic experience at Midsummer House, the Michelin starred restaurant in Cambridge. We must have looked like the princess and the pauper as we sat in a cosy corner of the pub, me with my diet Coke and Miranda with her glass of wine, but who cared. We didn’t. We synchronised our watches. We had just an hour.
It’s amazing how in that short time we packed in so much and never stopped talking! Miranda kicked off by explaining the background to how she got started composing and singing her own songs, and surprised me by saying that even though she has always loved music, folk, in particular, it was only recently that she really started to become involved in the music scene herself. As a youngster she used to dabble around a bit with the guitar but playing it was never really a serious hobby and for many years she had concentrated more on all her other interests which include poetry, art, horse riding and gardening. But one evening in 2011 (so we really are talking about recent times here), she was on the computer with a glass of the nice stuff (of course) and a credit card, and for some strange reason – it must have been the plonk – two days later a brand new guitar landed on her doorstep! As her webpage states, she could just about remember how to tune the instrument, but that was it, so not a very auspicious start at all. However, after a few lessons and some encouragement from her tutor, Miranda grew more confident and began playing at acoustic sessions and open stages but she was up against all the pros at these venues, so hats off to Miranda, instead of cowering off stage, she began composing her own songs so she had something unique to offer when she went up and performed. Singing her own compositions, she said, also gave her ‘a bit of street cred’.
Her lyrics are very engaging and poke a gentle sense of fun at the absurdities of modern life and can come from anywhere: a newspaper headline, a snippet of conversation overheard; an incident from her family history. As she puts it herself: ‘My songs are generally light-hearted, but most have a serious point to make.’ They are very reflective, peppered with humour, and she definitely has a voice that suits the lyrics, and her guitar playing, with sensitive variations of pace and style, fits the words perfectly. She has sought inspiration from some of the legends in Folk, listing Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchel and Leonard Cohen as examples (one of the songs on her CD is very Leonard Cohen, particularly the opening guitar sequence and the way Miranda sings it – listen and you’ll see what I mean!). Miranda points out that all their songs are like poetry put to music, and she feels very strongly that the lyrics are just as important as the melody. ‘If you can’t relate to what is being sung then the song doesn’t mean anything,’ she says, and I couldn’t agree more and have to say her musical compositions all have a story to tell.
But how has Miranda managed to achieve so much in such a relatively short time, going from someone who couldn’t even tune her guitar properly, to someone recording a CD of her own work, and playing the guitar with Richard Digance, to boot! I mean here is a guy who is very much a legend in the music business, and has been since the 1970s. He supported Tom Jones in 87 concerts, for a start, and his list of achievements includes receiving the Gold Award from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors for his services to music in 2003! Listen out for some superb guitar accompaniment on Miranda’s CD from Richard; it’s top class!
Miranda says long before she met Richard in 2012, she had always had a bit of a crush on him, right back to when she was a teenager, and especially loves his composition ‘Migration Memoirs’ which he wrote for a TV wildlife documentary many years ago. It so happened, that on one particular evening in 2012, she was at a Folk gig at the Bluebell in Hempstead, when, lo and behold, Richard was there, playing centre stage. She couldn’t resist requesting he play her favourite piece, and he replied with the classic: ‘I’ll play if you sing it.’ Well, it was an offer she couldn’t refuse, so with knees knocking and her heart going like the clappers, she braved the stage, and stood beside her idol and gave it her best. ‘Unfortunately it was the worst performance of my life,’ Miranda’s laughs. She was so nervous, she could hardly get the words out of her mouth, let alone sing; however her courage paid dividends because from that day onwards, she and Richard stayed in touch, and as time went on, she had more opportunities to sing some of her own songs in front of him, and there was no denying he was impressed. So much so, that he invited her down to his studio in Wiltshire to record a selection of those songs, now on her CD. Miranda said this was a ‘tremendous privilege as he doesn’t do this for everybody’, and here was a wonderful example of a youthful fantasy coming true. ‘Never did I dream that forty years on Richard Digance, one of my teenage heroes, would be recording my work. It was quite unbelievable!’
Along with her new CD – love the title, Petrol Station Flowers, and the artwork on the album cover, compliments of our very own Barney Miller from the Newport News – Miranda is continuing to write and compose new songs, and play and sing in clubs and open mike night sessions. She is also looking forward to playing a 50-minute set at Saffron Walden’s Fete de la Musique on the 21st June, accompanied by her guitar tutor, Dan Ketteridge, so that’s a date to put in our diaries! But on top of that she is planning a new venture; setting herself up as a public singer/speaker, a novel idea that combines a balancing act of words and music, explaining her journey from rookie strummer to singer/songwriter and recording her own compositions. Miranda’s tale is all the more inspirational when you learn that she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008. This was when she truly became aware that she had to ‘grab those opportunities when they arose’. And, boy, is she grabbing them now!
To order Petrol Station Flowers by Miranda Pender please call or text 07896 354616, or email info@mirandapender.com."