Solo Recordings at Home
Solo Recordings at Home is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter and musician Michael Gira. It was released in 2001 through Gira's own record label, Young God Records. The album features Gira's home recordings. The unreleased track from the home recording sessions were included in the album "The Milk of M. Gira: Selected Solo Home Recordings 2001-2010", released in 2011. Background and music. "Solo Recordings at Home" is primarily an acoustic album, "placing the emphasis on Gira's voice and guitar only, captured at home via one microphone." Nevertheless, the track  Irish Queen was roughly recorded during a concert and the fully orchestrated track "God's Servant" was taken directly from the Angels of Light's "New Mother" (1999). The album also features reworkings of two Swans tracks, "I Remember Who You Are" and "Love Will Save You," from "The Burning World" (1989) and "White Light From the Mouth of Infinity" (1991), respectively. The songs on the album feature lyrics on various topics. The track "Kosinsky" was described as "a fascinating contrast to the lyrical meditation on voyeurism" while the tracks "Surrogate" and "On the Mountain" were described to be "among  his bluntest ever." Critical reception. Allmusic critic Ned Raggett wrote: "In keeping with his post-Swans work, though, Gira's singing balances command with empathy, cracked and tender at once; anyone not taken with his late-'90s singing won't be convinced here, though fans will find it addictive." Raggett further wrote: "His guitar playing similarly can shift on a dime from sudden, brusque runs to gentler, steady fingerpicking, evoking everything from strung out rural blues to Nick Drake's hushed emptiness while still sounding uniquely in his own style." Track listing. All songs written by Michael Gira. Solo Recordings at