Welcome back, readers. This past weekend I spent my Sunday at the Vancouver Folk Festival which was a delightful musical journey enjoyed in the company of good friends. Plus thousands of people I didn’t know, of course.
The highlight of the show was Anna Tivel, who I heartily recommend to any lovers of folk music out there. Great live, with a lyrical storytelling quality that exists both within her music and the stories she tells in between.
It was also great to see Ken Pomeroy (for the first time) and Tami Nielson (for the second) and just generally enjoy a day of music and companionship.
On to the review…
Disc 1942 is…Erotica Veronica
Artist: Miya Folick
Year of Release: 2025
What’s up with the Cover? A dirt-covered Miya Folick, dressed only in her underwear, strikes an awkward pose.
Is this the morning after a bad night out, or has Folick dug her way out of some shallow grave?
Either way, she seems to be emerging from some kind of harrowing experience and I hope she’s OK. Unless she’s a zombie. Then it isn’t that I don’t wish that she’s OK, but I will just do so at a distance. Safety first!
How I Came To Know It: I became a fan in 2018 when I heard her “Premonitions” record and I’ve been a fan since. This was just me buying her latest release.
How It Stacks Up: I have three Miya Folick records, and of those three one must be last. That one is “Erotica Veronica”.
As this is the final (for now) Miya Folick record currently in my collection, here’s a recap:
- ROACH: 4
stars (reviewed at Disc 1687)
- Premonitions: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 1608)
- Erotica Veronica: 3 stars (reviewed right here)
Ratings: 3 stars
Folick writes thoughtful indie pop music, in a genre that is sort of a slow-jam low key lounge kind of style. It isn’t a style that typically catches my attention but her songwriting is top notch and her melodies are both catchy and unexpected.
Her third record, “Erotica Veronica,” is all those things, although the overall quality of the songs here are a step down from her previous two efforts. Not bad by any stretch, but less powerful overall.
Folick’s vocals remain strong, and she has a whisper to her voice that augments the sweetness of her pop delivery, without overwhelming it. That bit of whisper is what gives all her songs – even the ones I liked less – a magnetic quality as she pushes and pulls you through various emotional states, often within a single song.
The record begins with “Erotica”, which has a twee sort of fairytale quality to it, setting a dreamy tone that echoes through the record. This song is deeply romantic overall, but there’s a distance to it (maybe it’s the echo in the production) that made me feel slightly distant from the vibe Folick is trying to establish.
Arrangement-wise, the record is standard pop fare, with guitar, piano and some string flourishes where called for. There is one unfortunate moment of extended jazz flute on “Felicity” that I could live without, but otherwise I had no serious complaint.
There is also a lean into the drum machine in a couple places (notably, again, on “Felicity”) where I would have preferred a more organic touch. However, that is a part of the soundscape of “Erotica Veronica” and I realized if I spent too much time second guessing the guy on the keyboard/synth I’d be missing out on a lot of thoughtful music.
“Fist” was more my speed, and I’m sure the “good ole regular” guitar strum didn’t hurt in this regard. I also like the way this song can shift from a skip-in-the-step sprung phrasing, combined with long sweeping flourishes that naturally flow into a flourish that feels a bit like ocean waves crashing into the shore. Folick songs like “Fist” go through a lot of movements in the short time available to a pop song.
While the record is solidly indie pop there are undertones of smooth R&B at work. This creates a tension with the folksy narrative quality of the lyrics, like a dance song that never quite lifts you past sway-mode. There’s nothing wrong with sway-mode but living in that crossover area of styles can be both innovative and dangerous. It isn’t that Folick falters while navigating that tricky space, but most songs lacked the edge of previous work. The intense yearning and vulnerability in her voice still won me over, but I admit some of that yearning was an echo from her previous efforts.
And for this reason, despite the favourable three-star rating, and no serious criticism (other than the one bit of jazz flute), I was left wanting just a little more.
Best tracks: Fist, This Time Around, Prism of Light
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