Mia's WEBSITE!!!5

Mia's new album
COSMIC OCEAN SHIP
will be released on cd and lp
City Zen Records/Virtual Label
May 17, 2011

Press contact: Howard Wuelfing
Howlin' Wuelf Media
HowlingWuelf@aol.com
(215) 428-9119

WEBSTORE COMING SOON!

Prolific singer-songwriter from Los Angeles, California, Mia Doi Todd returns with her 9th album, Cosmic Ocean Ship, produced by Jonathan Wilson. Recorded in Los Angeles to analog 2 inch tape, the album has a warmth and depth that showcases Mia's beautiful, powerful, unique, and at times delicate voice. It is being released on City Zen Records/Virtual Label this Spring.

Inspired by interstellar journeys, reflective encounters with friends, and explorations of forest, beach, jungle, desert, and city in Cuba, Brazil, Mexico, France, and India, Mia searched deep within to communicate a new perspective for Cosmic Ocean Ship - one that transports the listener into the ecstatic radiance of intimate Love, and one that is yearning with an overall optimistic vision for the future of Planet Earth and the human experience. In reaction against the political, economic, and environmental upheaval and devastation of the last decade, Mia felt compelled as an artist to take a stand and create something for our time that focuses on beauty, joy, light, and Love:

"Like all my songs, these are very earnest and personal, but I hope they are universal as well and can reach people's hearts and turn them on! Modern life demands a lot of the human mind and body; we become desensitized and hardened. The songs on Cosmic Ocean Ship offer a chance for a softening, a heart opening. They are joyful!"

The whole record was tracked in just over 4 days, with Gabe Noel on bass, Andres Renteria on percussion, Adam MacDougall on keys and Jonathan Wilson both engineering and rotating on various instruments. Most of the songs were recorded live with the band all playing together and Mia playing and singing in the same room. Listening to Cosmic Ocean Ship, one hears the sweet nuanced relationship between the room, the tubes, the weathered circuitry, and the collective energy in the sessions. There's a real magic captured on tape here.

In addition to the original compositions that make up the majority of Cosmic Ocean Ship, Mia covers the classic lament "Gracias a la Vida" written by Chilean Folk artist Violeta Parra in 1966, and "Canto de Iemanjá," the Afro Samba tribute to the great Orisha of the Ocean, by Baden Powell and Vinícius de Moraes.

Cosmic Ocean Ship is exactly the kind of music the world needs right now! Honest, vulnerable, imaginative, courageous, and full of color and dimension.

Mia began singing as a child in choirs and later studied classical vocal technique. She found her own voice in writing songs about nature, romance, love and loss. Her first solo acoustic album, The Ewe and the Eye was released in 1997 as Todd was graduating from Yale University. She then spent a year in Japan, studying the avant-garde dance form Butoh and returned to the States to release two more acoustic albums, Come Out of Your Mine (1999) and Zeroone (2001). In 2002, she was signed to Columbia Records and recorded The Golden State, collaborating with producer Mitchell Froom on more elaborate instrumentation. That was followed up by two albums on the indie label Plug Research, Manzanita and an album of remixes, entitled La Ninja: Amor and Other Dreams of Manzanita. In 2008, Mia released Gea on her own label City Zen Records. It was produced with Carlos Nino and features string and horn arrangements by Miguel Atwood-Ferguson. Mia also released an instrumental album of meditational music, entitled Morning Music in 2009.

Mia has toured in the US and Europe, headlining and in support of fellow artists such as Jose Gonzalez, Lou Barlow, Saul Williams, Dungen, The Books, and Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes. In 2009, she toured in Brazil for the first time, performing in Sao Paulo and at the legendary Circo Voador in Rio de Janeiro.

Track Listing
1. Paraty (3:54)
2. My Baby Lives in Paris (2:56)
3. Under the Sun (5:03)
4. Skipping Stones (3:55)
5. Summer Lover (4:23)
6. La Havana (4:02)
7. Canto de Iemanja (6:30)
8. The Rising Tide (3:25)
9. All My City (3:26)
10. Gracias a la Vida (4:06)

LYRICS:

1. Paraty

Paraty paradise

parachute into my life

Paraty, paradise exists

Morning sun on the lazy beach

Waterfalls awaiting

Take a swim in the salty sea

Coconut and acai

Mango juice and coffee

Take a sip, take some time to be

Paraty pirateman

parasail to the island.

Paraty paradise

parachute into my life.

Paraty paradise exists.

Barefeet in the golden sand,

Take a walk up the ancient path

Through the jungle, leaves and vines and roots.

Butterflies, blue and red

Lead the way overhead

To the river, water sweet and fresh.

Paraty pirateman

parasail to the island.

Paraty paradise

parachute into my life.

Paraty paradise exists.

2. My Baby Lives in Paris

My Baby Lives in Paris

Far from the Eiffel Tower.

In his arondissement,

Nineteen lilies flower,

Blooming in my flavor,

Doing me a favor.

Sweet smell of decision.

Come closer, out of vision.

The night brings us home

Where we can be skin and bone.

My Baby Lives in Paris

He buys cigarettes

Downstairs at the Turkish tabac,

Then past the Chinese market

For bread and pain au chocolat.

Wake me up while they’re still hot.

We eat our breakfast in bed,

Café crème on my neck.

In the morning, doves cry.

The clouds part, and the sun shines.

In the morning, doves cry.

The clouds part, and the sun shines.

Come, shower, get dressed.

My baby lives in Paris.

We walk up to the doorstep,

Birthplace of Edith Piaf.

I sing a song of hers and

A song of yours and mine and

Our love just beginning.

I’m so full of longing.

Oh j’aime, j’aime, j’aime, je t’aime.

Oh je t’aime, t’aime, t’aime, je t’aime.

3. Under the Sun

I am the Ocean;

You are the Salt in my Sea,

The Cream in my Coffee,

The Honey in my Tea.

Maybe we should spend the summer.

Maybe we should spend some time together

Under the Sun.

I am the Ocean;

You are the land.
My deep Devotion

Crashes on your Sand.

Maybe we should spend the summer.

Maybe we should spend this Life together

Under the Sun.

I am the Ocean;

You are the Wind in my Sail.

We drink my Love Potion.

We are steep in the Gail.

Maybe we should spend the summer.

Baby, we should spend the winter

Under the Sun.

4. Skipping Stones

Skipping stones,

Glad to be home;

I’m still alive.

Water the plants,

Do a little dance

In the meantime.

This is where I am.

This is where I stand

Skipping stones,

Time on my own.

I can hear my breath

And the return

Making me burn

To be myself.

Wondering if I can

Be a good woman.

A good woman, a good woman.

Skipping stones,

Answering the phone.

I know your voice.

Medecine to me

Making me free

To be myself.

Show me what I am,

A very good woman.

For such a good man, such a good man.

A good woman, for such a good man.

Skipping stones

Glad to be alone

With you at last.

I am yours

And you are mine,

If love can last.

Skipping stones

Glad to be alone

With you at last.

5. Summer Lover

Come on Summer, give me a smile.

That long, cold winter lasted quite a while.

Come on Summer, sweet lemonade,

A skinny dip, a picnic by the lake.

The green grass and the pine trees,

They do me good,

And the bright sun on my skin

Feeling brand new,

Brand new in love with you

In love with you.

Come on Summer, work your charm,

A golden tan and this lovely man on my arm.

Come on Summer, laughing all day,

And love all night in the soft bed where we lay.

Let’s go down to the beach,

See the sunset sky.

Our dancing mandala feet

Wash out in the tide, the tide.

The tide is comin’ and goin’.

Summer Lover,

You make me smile.

Come on Summer, fill me up to my ears

With love and light to last me all through the year.

Summer Lover

Summer, you do me good

You do me good.

6. La Havana

Been so long here on this island

Of myself. I know each high and

Low and how the weather changes

My perspective, my position,

Who I am and in what

Humankind love realation

Cosmic ocean ship

Cosmic ocean ship.

It’s hard making sense

Of ourselves and everything else.

My mind, my heart, my soul felt

Looking at some photographs

O how we lived! O how we laughed!

Yes I remember happy times

Though in the minute, I could have cried

Who am I and in what

Humankind love relation

Cosmic ocean ship

Love came to our table

Serving wine and bread.

The wonder in your eyes

I never will forget

La Havana, La Havana, La Havana…..

7. Canto de Iemanja (Baden Powell/Vinicius de Moraes)

Iemanja, Iemanja

E a Dona Janaina que vem

Iemanja

E muito tristeza que vem

Vem do luar do ceu

Vem do luar

No mar coberto de flor, meu Bem

De Iemanja

De Iemanja a cantar o amor

E a se mirar

Na lua triste no ceu, meu Bem

Triste no mar

Se voce quiser amar

Se voce quiser amor

Vem comigo a Salvador

Para ouvir Iemanja

A cantar, na mare que vai

E na mare que vem

Do fim, mais do fim, do mar

Bem mais alem

Do que o fim do mar

Bem mais alem

8. The Rising Tide

Got to face a changing planet,

Weather, land, ocean and air,

Population out of balance

Wages world warfare.

Can we fix it with our love?

Can we rise above?

Got to face myself. Can I manage?

Ride those emotional waves.

Will I just let it happen,

The crush of hours, the crash of days.

Can I learn with my love?

Can I rise above

The rising tide, the rising tide?

Face to face with my lover,

Finding recognition there.

We take comfort in one another,

Take time, take care.

Can we live on out love?

Can we rise above

The rising tide, the rising tide?

9. All My City

All my city

Has gotten to me

Hidden from my eyes

All the beauty

Inside outside me

In concrete disguise

Call to Nature

Take me in your arms.

All my family

My friends, my memories

They keep me here

In the city.

Yes how I love thee.

I want to be near.

Call to Nature,

Let me in your heart

I’m in the city

How can we be apart?

All my city

Inside outside me,

What becomes of us?

Friends and family

Always expanding

From dawn to dusk.

Call to Nature

Take us in your arms

We are the city.

We mean no harm.

10. Gracias a la Vida (by Violeta Parra)