Siren Song

Los Angeles is both paradise and purgatory for dreamers. With its promise of riches for those with the merest talent, it lulls one to its pulsing coast like the proverbial siren. Then, as often as not, it ignores you. So what do you do if you’re pretty, smart and gifted? If you’re Meiko (pronounced “Mee-ko”), an L.A. transplant by way of Georgia and Miami, you post your gentle electronic folk songs on MySpace and YouTube. They get you invited to perform at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, and your tracks played on the influential L.A. radio show “Morning Becomes Eclectic.” Two of those songs – "Hawaii" and “Reasons to Love You” – soon get featured on Grey’s Anatomy.

Lest you think she’s another of those chick-centric soundtrack waifs, a few spins of the soft-rock gems on Meiko’s self-titled debut should quell any fears. Her gorgeous acoustic strums and loping beats are soothing, but her romance-fueled lyrics are tough. On the Bossa Nova-lite “Heard It All Before,” she doesn’t think a man will “be something I’ll miss.” In “Hiding,” she’s spying on her lover: “Watching every hour / Watch it go sour / Watching you control my fate.” Yet she’s not waiting for anything – not a man, not fate – to discover her. She’s the siren – enticing the world with her lulling, then piercing, songs.


Meiko is available now as a download at iTunes or Amazon, and on CD September 9, from MySpace Records.