by Jacob McPherson

Newly signed XL artist, Holly Miranda, performed during this past weekend’s annual CMJ festival in New York, a showcase for new independent music artists. Born and raised outside of Detroit, Miranda left her life in the Midwest at 16 to jumpstart her music career in New York.  After becoming part of the East Village’s music scene, her career began picking up fast.  More recently, she has been hyped by the likes of celebrities such as Kanye West.

As an openly out lesbian, Miranda makes strides for burgeoning queer artists.  She recently was a guest on the series finale of This Just Out with Liz Feldman to sing and chat about what it would be like to make out with Scarlett Johansson.  Exposure like this creates an influence that will bring to light the importance of queer musicians. She is able to show us that you don’t have to sing about queer-related content to be a queer artist.

The music she creates is a mix between Cat Power and CocoRosie.  Dave Sitek of TV on the Radio produced her most recent CD, the “Sleep on Fire EP.”  We can definitely feel Sitek’s influence with the way Ms. Miranda expresses her vocal skills.  She is certainly teaming up with the right people and is well on her way to becoming an overnight success.

XL recordings, which gave us Vampire Weekend, M.I.A., Peaches, and Friendly Fires, will release Miranda’s debut album in early 2010.  For now, you can purchase and download her EP through her website, where she is offering a free download of one of her songs, “Waves.”