Mirk

Mirk's (formerly Mirk and the New Familiars, the group shortened their name to Mirk in October 2010) debut album, "Love", was all written, recorded, mixed and originally performed by lead vocalist and producer, Joshua Mirsky. After several solo performances, he assembled a live band along with Mike Thornton and Andy O'Brien to recreate the album's unique sound.^[3] The album's single, "Forbidden" received high praise from critics and was well received by fans. A subsequent music video was filmed later that year in New York City which features a cameo by Grammy award-winning R&B singer Maxwell.

After a sold out full-band debut show on February 13, 2009, a follow-up EP titled "Broke" was released a few months later.

Mirk gained national attention in 2009 after numerous press outlets reported on their collaboration with Jay-Z and Regina Spektor.^[4] Mirk has been credited with producing and arranging the song "Crispy Benjamins", acquired by Jay-Z and Roc Nation in September 2009.^[5][6][7]

In late 2009, bassist Dan Gerken and drummer Carl Blackwood left to pursue other musical options. Kate Sgroi was playing trumpet in the group at the time, but with the departure of Gerken, she took over on bass. Then adding Dan Root on drums and Mike Finch on trumpet to replace Sgroi, the band moved back into the studio.

Due to the rising success of the group and the popularity of the new live-band versions of "Love", Mirk went into the studio in early 2010 and re-recorded the album live with the full band and "live" versions of the songs. The album was called "Love/Live; A 2pt Trilogy" and was a free download on the band's website.

Just after the recording sessions of ''Love/Live", Dan Root announced he would be leaving the band. Replaced with current member, Stephen Struss, the band finished "Love/Live" and released it for free.^[8] Throughout 2010, the group continued writing new material, and focused on playing around the northeast to continue to build their fan base. In the fall of 2010, Mike Finch (trumpet) left the group to also explore other avenues. No replacement was made for Finch, but late 2010 the band announced on their website^[9] that new vocalist Tara Merritt would be joining the group.

After two years of playing shows across the northeast in support of "Love", the band made it back into the studio in early 2011 to begin work on their second album. Having been writing new material since the release of "Love", the writing process was quick. After months of recording and production, the band began slipping new songs into live shows to hint at the new album.

On September 28th, 2011 the band posted a teaser image on their website that officially announced their second album titled "Grind" would be pre-released on December 2nd, 2011 to select fans. At the "fan-exclusive" album release show, the first 500 fans were given a free copy of the new album months before its official release.^[10]

"Grind" was officially released to the public in the Spring of 2012 on iTunesそして//bandcampでは、ファンが価格を自由に決めることができる。「Grind」はバンド初のスタジオアルバムで、バンドメンバー全員が演奏と作詞作曲を手がけた曲が収録されており、「Love」と同様に、バンドのプライベートスタジオで自主制作・録音された。アルバムからのファーストシングル「Away」は、 Kickstarterキャンペーンの成功により、バンドにとって2作目のミュージックビデオとなった。わずか数週間後、バンドは続編シングル「Beautiful Music」を発表した。こちらもミュージックビデオが制作され、ヒップホップスーパーグループLost Boyzのグラミー賞受賞プラチナラッパー、Mr. Cheeksが参加している。Mr. Cheeksはライブショーでバンドと頻繁に共演しており^{[ 11 ]} 、ライブでは「Renee」などのLost Boyzのヒット曲もいくつか演奏している。

『Run』は2015年初春にリリース予定。MIRKのニューアルバムからの最初のシングルは「Let It Go」「Rocketship」「Old School」だ。