Oh Mirah, we can’t resist your advances. After what seemed like a grueling, nearly five year long wait for an official follow-up to 2004’s sweet-and-tender C’mon Miracle, news dropped today that the Portland-via-Olympia singer is finally readying her new record—just in time for a new year. (a)spera is out on March 12 courtesy of K Records and features a trifecta of Portland luminaries—including the Decemberists’ Chris Funk and the engineering duties of Adam Selzer (Norfolk & Western, the Alialujah Choir) and Tucker Martine (producer of the Decemberists, Sufjan Stevens, and many more). Of course, this being a Mirah record and all, you can expect lots of clever wordplay—”aspera” translates to “hardship” or “adversity” while “a spera” means “to hope” according to Pitchfork—acoustic guitars, and an appearance from K Records mainstay and Mt. Eerie/Microphones dude Phil Elvrum. Here’s the full tracklist:

(a)spera:

01 Generosity
02 The World Is Falling Apart
03 Education
04 Shells
05 Country of the Future
06 The Forest
07 Gone Are the Days
08 The River
09 Bones & Skin
10 While We Have the Sun

Mirah has two PDX dates in the coming up: This Friday, Dec. 5 at the Aladdin Theater with the Portland Cello Project and a Jan. 9 stop at the Crystal Ballroom with Kimya “Juno” Dawson.

Links:
MirahSpace

Photo courtesy of Mirah