Smokey & Miho

by MacKenzie WilsonMulti-instrumentalist/vocalist Smokey Hormel is most known for his session work with Tom Waits, Beck, and Johnny Cash. He's also had his hand in films. Hormel created music for David Lynch's The Cowboy and the Frenchmen (1987) and The Straight Story (1999), as well as music for the PBS television series The World of Art: Works in Progress. Miho Hatori is the other half of the indie pop duo Cibo Matto. She's collaborated with the Beastie Boys, Handsome Boy Modeling School, and Medeski, Martin & Wood. In 2001, Hatori lended vocals to the Gorillaz hit "19-2000." Individually, Hormel and Hatori are master artists. Together they are Smokey & Miho, an indie pop dream celebrating world music. Smokey & Miho joined forces in late 2000 to pay tribute to famed Brazilian guitarist/composer Baden Powell. Hormel was already a massive fan of Powell's work and met the musician earlier that summer before his death. When he and Hatori got together to play a show based on Powell's 1966 recording Os Afros Sambas, magic was in the works. In 2002, the Tempo de Amor EP captured Smokey & Miho's interpretations of Powell. That same year, the duo's self-titled EP was released. It featured "Ocean in Your Eyes" from the tantalizing thriller Y Tu Mama Tambien.