Miranda Stone - 7 Deadly Sins

The road is no stranger to Toronto’s Miranda Stone. Ten years of writing and performing her own music have seen Stone adopt a near constant tour schedule, often playing over a hundred shows a year, both solo and with a full band. Her fans have responded to her devotion in kind, springing up in fiercely loyal pockets throughout Canada and the United States and driving sales of her previous two releases into the ten thousand range despite a near total lack of distribution.

Her audience recognizes something unique in Stone’s work. Hers is a music of the soul, with the quest for a human connection as much a part of the art as is the writing and performing. That quest raises her work well above the ordinary, a fact recognized by booking agents and festival organizers as well as casual listeners. Interspersed with countless shows in bars, colleges, basements, just about any venue with an audience hungry for a true voice, festival bookers have seen fit to have Stone share the bill with the likes of Bruce Cockburn, Victoria Williams, David Eugene Edwards (16 Horsepower), Damien Jurado, Pedro the Lion, Over the Rhine, Rosie Thomas, The Vigilantes of Love and other songwriters of similar quality and not only has she held her own, she has won new fans and converts.

Following a previous studio recorded EP and a full length live record her newest release, Seven Deadly Sins, stands as Stone’s first full length studio effort and it can safely be said that this is the record her fans have been waiting for. Balancing the power of her live performances with the intricate arrangements afforded by the studio setting, her passion with her poetry, Seven Deadly Sins draws elements of jazz, country and blues rock into Stone’s already deft singer-songwriter palette. But regardless of whether the guitar couching the voice be electric or acoustic, regardless of whether the arrangements are bolstered with strings, keys and horns or if they are left bare, the voice throughout remains distinctly Stone’s own as she delves into herself in search of something universal. Seven Deadly Sins captures an artist in peak form as both a writer and performer. Stone draws from the same well as writers Anne Lamott and Annie Dillard, those who are able to draw truth and beauty from their own experience without ever straying into self-indulgence. Whether judged in terms of writing or performance, Seven Deadly Sins stands as Stone’s finest work to date and establishes her as a significant voice in the singer-songwriter world.