RADAR: Mirel Wagner

Music doesn't get much more spare or unsparingly direct as the self-titled March 27 debut from the Ethiopian-born Finland-based neo-folk songwriter Mirel Wagner. Utilizing a near skeletal production with just acoustic guitar and a chilly voice as soft as a whisper, Wagner delivers her sad, dark and soul-bearing songs with minimal fuss and emotion yet the effect is undeniably powerful. The spectral "No Death" (video below) is a song that balances despair with unshakeable love, as Wagner sings "no death can tear us apart" while setting the words in gloomy imagery of suffering and loneliness. From Leonard Cohen to Laura Marling, some of our best songwriters have found the way to spin profound lyricism with the simplest of chord structure and barest of melody. Mirel Wagner finds the elusive essence of her songs with what you might describe as the least number of moving parts -- and that, in a way, makes them even more moving.

Mirel Wagner - "No Death" (from the album Mirel Wagner)

Mirel Wagner - "The Road" (from the album Mirel Wagner)