On Friday, November 17, 2023, Mingjia, the vocalist, composer, songwriter, improviser, and multi-instrumentalist lauded for her ability to “synthesize multiple influences into a unique, modern style” (The Whole Note), and whose compositions “communicate an opera’s worth of feelings and emotions, firing all of our senses together at once” (Dominionated), will release her new album, star, star, via New Amsterdam Records. star, star is a collection of kaleidoscopic, through-composed, and emotionally charged songs written by Mingjia for herself and the Tortoise Orchestra, a Toronto-based 13-piece chamber ensemble that marries courageous songwriting with curious, colorful orchestration, and improvisation.
Throughout star, star, Mingjia utilizes songs as a means of exploring stories that are inspired by her life, Chinese mythology, and the world around her. In her words, she creates “little worlds of magical realism, wherein the story is truer than the outcome, little bubbles that are all their own. The story does not merely arrive at the truth; the story itself becomes the truth.”
Today, September 6, 2023, Mingjia releases the title track ‘**-* (pronounced star, star)’.
“‘**-*’ is the story of a young girl who begins to learn to protect herself. It is a story about hidden darknesses in the music education system, and unfortunately, it is also a love story.” The story unfolds as Mingjia’s consoling yet commanding vocals and the Tortoise Orchestra’s myriad of timbral colors fill the song with a playful lightness. The soft woodwinds, plucked upright bass, arpeggiated piano, swelling string pads, and captivating vocal performance create “a kind of private little victory to having maintained, in the song, some childlike joy.”