Miranda Lee Richards

Miranda Lee Richards drew songwriting inspiration from her bohemian childhood in San Francisco, where her parents Ted and Teresa Richards supported themselves as prominent comic book artists. Immersed from an early age in the underground comic scene, she counted R. Crumb among her informal godparents. In her final year of high school a close friend began seeing Metallica’s Kirk Hammett, who mentored Richards and showed her how to finger several guitar pieces. Her earliest recordings were captured on a demo tape made in Hammett’s basement; that tape eventually reached the Brian Jonestown Massacre. Frontman Anton Newcombe asked her to join the group as a vocalist, and she remained with them for six months. Offered a touring slot, however, she turned it down, remarking, “I love this sort of psychedelic, bass-like, Velvet Underground folky stuff, but these guys are so crazy. It was just going to be a rock & roll circus, but in the worst way.” She stayed on good terms with the band nonetheless, co-authoring “(You Better Love Me) Before I Am Gone” for their 1997 album Give It Back and supplying “Reign On” to Bringing It All Back Home Again in 1999.

After pitching a tent in a friend’s Los Angeles yard, Richards met a producer who helped her cut a second demo that landed her a contract with Virgin Records. The resulting debut, The Herethereafter, appeared in August 2001. Gentler and more fragile than BJM’s output, the record nevertheless reflected the sounds of the ’60s and alternative aesthetics, and it enlisted contributions from veteran Los Angeles players including Jon Brion, the Smashing Pumpkins’ Matt Walker, and members of Beachwood Sparks. Several tracks were placed in films and television programs, giving Richards the means to tour for several years before she returned to the studio. That follow-up, Light of X, surfaced on Nettwerk Records in early 2009. During the intervening period she remained active as a collaborator, appearing at Lilith Fair and adding backing vocals to recordings by Josh Kelley and the Quarter After.

Apart from the 2012 single “The Reach,” Richards stayed largely out of view until the late-2015 announcement of her third album. Issued in early 2016 on Invisible Hands Music, Echoes of the Dreamtime displayed a bolder lyrical approach than her previous work. Existential Beast arrived soon afterward in mid-2017, introducing passages of denser psychedelia.