Mia Joy - Celestial Mirror EP (2023) Hi-Res

Mia Joy Rocha is a Chicago-based musician who creates lush, atmospheric dream pop that hypnotizes listeners, luring them into a vibrant phantasmagoric dream world. With a singing style that often recalls Elizabeth Fraser, Rocha puts her own unique spin on the genre with her memorable hooks and melodies. On Celestial Mirror, her EP follow-up to her 2021 debut album Spirit Tamer, Rocha superimposes warm, buttery vocals over a lush tapestry of reverb effects and synths that together invoke a realm of tranquility and contemplation (recording these songs on tape gives them an additional layer of warmth digital recordings tend to lack). This brief but sweet four-track collection showcases Rocha’s songwriting savviness and her ability to create thoughtful, entrancing compositions.

Rocha sets the mood on Celestial Mirror with opener “Alive,” a beautiful acapella track built from multiple vocal harmonies. It feels meditative, almost like a Buddhist chant: “Alive, alive, alive, alive with light,” sings Rocha, almost as if she’s casting a protective spell. The sparseness of the track perfectly contrasts with and highlights its predecessor, “More Green,” as it contains more intricate instrumentation and layers. The lush synths and reverberant guitar chords of the latter song fill the empty sonic space left by the previous one, creating an immersive experience that reflects the sparkling, positive emotions which intimate relationships invoke. “Oh, a little more green / Every time I see them / Green, green, green,” sings Rocha hypnotically while the pulsating synth melody pulls the listener into its spell.

Relationships are at the forefront of Celestial Mirror as each track focuses on a particular type of human connection. It’s as if each song mirrors one of the four seasons, invoking a cosmic connection to nature where things bloom, flower, and wither. Rocha’s writing is both contemplative and cryptic, traveling in different directions emotionally and never quite landing in the same place—much in the style of Cocteau Twins. It’s an ambitious EP that’s as sonically captivating as it is intellectually engaging.