Some artists come with a presence. As if the world falls silent when they share a song. For Miriam Kass, that presence flows both ways. Miriam speaks of music as a portal to true presence, free from who, what, when, or where. You could try to pin her at the crossroads of folk and americana, or somewhere between this vocalist and that songwriter, but such an effort would only serve to shrink the space and time that her songs demand. Better to follow her through that portal, to that place that only a voice so earnest and songs so striking could ever go.