A privy listen and view into the musical world of Mimi Oz; press photo courtesy of Patrick Gerard.

Electronic exhibitions offer hyper realities that feel very much like the worlds and situations we know incredibly well. In these styles of synthesis the classic and modern methodologies meld together in emulations and amalgamations of myriad components that make up new superstructures of arts and expressions. Through these electro means, the creative can amplify and illustrate visions that they otherwise not be able to do. Notions of the past can be resurrected and reimagined into things that have the power to be larger than life. The constructs of the future can be created in the present moment. Manifestations that have never been conjured up before can run free in paradigms arranged and sequenced through contemporary instruments and platforms that make the impossible totally possible.

Enter Toronto artist Mimi Oz with the fantastical expanses of Firefly. Representative of the more electronic leaning directions in collaboration with New York's own Leftpop (aka Harrison Adams): the madness of today is conveyed through a cyber-syphoned three track tour de force that seeks earnestness and heart in a hollowed out landscape of fallen empires. Firefly lights up those nights without end, piercing the shrouds of silence and restraint for radical rides through the New York streets, and up the interstate 190 northbound back toward the refuge of home.

“Sexy Driver” cruises in the front seat toward destinations unknown. Mimi Oz buckles up for a cinematic automobile odyssey that zooms ahead into the eternal expanses of evening. Imagine an art house ride share thriller distilled into a synth pop song that enrobes focused moods within the percussive engine of rhythmic electro keys. Oz and Adams adapt the art of obsessive insomnia into the driven volition via la voiture vernacular, an ambitious work that stands tall in the pantheon of big pulsing key tone pop a la Kavinsky, Desire, the oeuvre of Johnny Jewel, and every creative inspired by the Drive soundtrack. “Sexy Driver” is a statement centered around the inner monologue of a chauffeur working the gig economies in a stream of sentiments that venture into the perceived infinity of city streets that moves riders from points a to b, c to d, e to f, entertaining existential questions all whilst behind the wheel.

Window sill lounging with Mimi Oz; press photo courtesy of Patrick Gerard.

Presented visuals from Merging Forest Films, the classic trope of car-centered adventurism is shown cruising and careening along the streetlight splashed boulevards. Mimi Oz is shown picking up paying strangers of all stripes across the city, each possessing supernatural and dubious characteristics. What would otherwise be an ordinary evening in the life of a contractor worker catering to a mobile application based clientele becomes something odd, otherworldly, and all out surreal. As the synths and lyrics grow more intense and the rising emotion heightened; “Driver” delves into the polarities of good and evil, contrasts of Mimi’s presence as a glammed-up angelic vehicle operator in a corporatized technocratic sphere of devils and malevolent entities that arrives at a fiery finale. The song and video move with a Mephistophelean momentum that manically motors between the heaven and hell manifestations of spirits speeding atop the asphalt of earth’s material plane.

Apocalypse vibes are investigated on “The End” that pulses with heartbeats of tension. The temporal and fleeting nature of things dances across the stage planes that ponder the finite timelines of all personal tales. “End” is illustrated with what romance feels like in our times of uncertainty, where the interpersonal interplays are exhibited amid a backdrop of civic and societal instability. Mimi takes a detour into the terrain of the floral and fantastical on “Butterfly” [aka “Mariposa”] that escapes into the abandon of flower beds and butterfly accompaniment. The heaviness of the world, the tricky relationship navigations, and fears are met with a love song respite that resembles an hallucinatory holiday bathed in a bright technicolor Day-Glo food coloring mélange. Mimi’s message is that humankind is complicated, the world is wild, dangerous, messy, and outright weird, yet there is still a chance for boundless wonder and love to prevail above all.

Mimi Oz provided reflections on the making of Firefly and more:

Firefly is a pandemic baby project inspired by the renewal that was felt by myself and society as life began to thaw and remerge after Covid in 2020. During that period I boldly dyed my hair a ghastly neon yellow that attracted a ton of attention. Not something I would normally do, however there were no more rules! The color akin to that of a firefly became a symbol of following my own rhythm of self discovery and expression, carving out my own path in a society riddled with the disease of judgement and control.

Mimi Oz beyond the veil; press photo courtesy of Patrick Gerard.

This project touches on themes like love in a post apocalyptic world as well as the negative effect that corporations have on independent minded people and society. There is definitely an underlying theme of protest and demand for individuality that is expressed within these tracks, that capture what I was going through in my work life/creative life.

Mimi Oz reclining at the window into the natural realm; press photo courtesy of Patrick Gerard.

I worked with my friend Harrison Adams [Leftpop] during the pandemic to produce these three tracks. It took a long time to find the appropriate feel since these are songs I wrote on guitar. Normally I work with a band of musicians but everything was recorded with electronic instrumentation, so it took some time to find the appropriate sounds and feel for each song, something that was completely new to me. The project is a result of two people working intensely on something, we had no outside influences or other musicians involved. It was done when it felt done.

Mimi Oz’s Firefly is available now.

PREMIERE | Mimi Oz, 'Firefly'