Where her 2020 debut Nyaaringu lovingly revisited the wisdom Miiesha’s late grandmother passed down to her, Smoke & Mirrors sees the Anangu and Torres Strait Islander artist throw open her recent diary entries and sting their margins with pained insight. Made with an $18,500 recording grant she received on the strength of her debut, Miiesha’s 2022 follow-up is technically a dual EP released in two parts (Smoke was followed by Mirrors). Each half represents two distinct chapters in her life to date. The songs that make up the Smoke portion of the record deal largely with her troubled relationship with her mother. Opener and first single “Damaged” laments the damage she’s incurred in trying to repair something damaged. Both uptempo and understated, second single “Price I Paid” immerses its sublime grooves in the hurt of dismissed effort, while the award-winning “Made For Silence” continues the story of “Damaged” with more spring in its step—acknowledging, instead, her mother’s virtues. Beginning with “Everything”’s moody message of resilience, the songs that make up Mirrors are the calm after the storm, where self-reflection is the next step towards healing. As the record concludes with the hope and gratitude of “Ready,” it’s a stark reminder that what binds Smoke to Mirrors is itself a conclusion: Every soulful syllable is bound to Miiesha’s understanding that “all pain has a history”—whether that be individual, intergenerational, or intimate.