WERS 88.9 fm - Performance Wrap-Up: The Mieka Canon

October 27^th, 2009

The start of winter in Boston is never pleasant. The beautiful fall days seem gone forever, and the only thing that greets people on the street is the stabbing-cold wind. Despite the nasty weather, The Mieka Canon arrived at WERS laughing and cracking jokes. Even the gray sky that looked like it could start pouring anytime could not stop the band's jolly energy.

Mieka Pauley, the front woman of The Mieka Canon, is not new to WERS. She not only went to school in Boston, but she's a frequent WERS in-studio performer. She looked extremely comfortable setting up and sound checking, and the band members seemed to be more relaxed than nervous.

The Mieka Canon is Mieka Pauley's new project with Brian Cassagnol, Andrew Morgan, and Gabriel Hayes. Pauley has been playing as a solo acoustic artist for some years, but she sought for a different way to express her music with a full band. "I think I wasn't satisfied with my solo work," Pauley said. "There were people who told me that they liked it, but it's not enough for me to be happy with, and then Ryan and Andrew brought to me the music that I've always wanted to play."

The band started off the set with "Faster," which is a medium tempo tune layered with Pauley's appealing vocals. Pauley's voice was simple yet touching, and the band added filled in the blanks that Pauley's acoustic sound might have been missing. 

Pauley had a hard time defining her hometown when asked where she was from. She's lived in Kentucky, Colorado, and South Florida. Her eclectic sound perfectly represents her backgrounds, which also allows her to play with many different artists such as Citizen Cope, Ben Kweller, Eric Clapton, and even Natasha Beddingfield. "Mieka is kind of bluesy, kind of R&B," said Cassagnol. "… [Citizen Cope] is so much funkier, and yet it totally works because Mieka has got that down. But then we can get on stage with Ben Kweller and we can bring out more of rock and garage sound, so it can work with Ben Kweller."

The Mieka Canon finished their set with "We're All Gonna Die." Cassagnol's back-up vocals added a spunky spice to the song. With the band behind her, Pauley seemed to be more confident and comfortable letting her sound out. It was a great idea to get a band together on Pauley's end, considering how much more versatility Pauley's music carried with the band.

-Words and images by Lily Jeong