Canadian Musician - March/April 2021 | Page 44

RHYE

TAPS INTO

THE MYSTIC WITH HOME

By Michael Raine

There

By Michael Raine
’ s specific things on the record that deal with stuff that probably would have only happened during this time , but I didn ’ t make a pandemic record , though . If anything , it ’ s supposed to be , not an antidote because that ’ s kind of self-aggrandizing , but it ’ s a reprieve from the pandemic ,” says Michael Milosh , the prodigious musician , producer , and songwriter with the enchanting voice behind Rhye .
It ’ s fitting that Milosh ’ s latest record under the Rhye moniker is called Home , given that that ’ s where the music will live for most people . Also , fittingly , it was recorded in his new home studio on the rural property outside Los Angeles that he relocated to a couple years ago . The album re-introduces the rich production that characterized Rhye albums prior to 2019 ’ s sparser and piano-driven Spirit . Stylistically , it ’ s closer to 2018 ’ s Blood , which received a Juno Award nomination in the adult alternative album category ( and won the Juno for best album artwork ). Throughout the entire catalog , though , the backbone of the music is Milosh ’ s androgynous , angelic voice emoting personal lyrics and being carried along by the music like a wavy dream . Indeed , when the first Rhye album , Woman , was released to widespread acclaim in 2013 and little in the way of explanation about who the artist was , he famously let reviewers assume he was a woman for months , not bothering to correct the common mistake until , of course , he began touring the album and it became pretty obvious . Since then , Milosh rarely stopped touring for any extended period until forced to by the pandemic .
“ It ’ s a very live project , but not everyone realizes that the Rhye project is centred a lot around touring ,” Milosh says . “ I don ’ t know , exactly , how to release a record without the live element , because we were doing 50 to 100 shows a year to promote a record . I kind of also took the philosophy that I didn ’ t do album cycles , I just kind of kept playing . Since around 2011 or whenever , I ’ ve just constantly been playing . So , there ’ s a big part of my life that ’ s missing , which is getting feedback from our audience , which is very immediate . It goes into your mind and it affects you as a musician in ways you can ’ t even conceive of .”
There ’ s something to clarify about Rhye . Despite his use of “ we ” and music media commonly referring to it as a group , “ Rhye was always my project ,” says Milosh , who released four albums under his own name between 2004 and 2013 . Danish producer Robin Hannibal is commonly referred as a co-founder of Rhye and produced Woman . “[ Robin ’ s ] not on the record contract , for example . He was a hired producer who was brought on and then he left the project before I even started playing shows live . He was just kind of in there the ground floor , and he was working on the original record , but he was signed exclusively to Epic for different projects , so he wasn ’ t even contractually allowed to continue the Rhye project ,” Milosh explains . “ He also doesn ’ t play any instruments , so I couldn ’ t really have him on stage . Like , there ’ s nothing he could do . So , I hired musicians and I wanted to have a big band because I wanted to have live drums and organ and I wanted to have all these things . So , that ’ s kind of the direction I went . Then you get to a point where you ’ re like , ‘ Okay , I ’ ve done multiple
years of playing live as Rhye and I ’ m enjoying it …. so , I just was like , ‘ yeah , I ’ m going to keep making music under this name , keep that sound , and keep that stage set up .’”
After Woman ’ s release in 2013 , there was a five-year gap before Blood , Spirit , and Home came in quick succession between 2018 and 2021 . “ It ’ s like the classic music business horror story thing , it was all contractual ,” Milosh says about the gap between the first two Rhye albums . “ I wasn ’ t allowed to make another record and I had to buy out the record contracts [ from Polydor Records / Universal Music Group ]. I was with different management , and for my current managers , the first big hurdle for them was like , ‘ Okay , we want to work with you , but we got to figure out this scenario ,’ and it takes financial resources . But it actually worked in my favour because I started touring constantly because we were trying to buy out this contract . So , I literally just played live for five years , just kept touring off of one record , getting the resources to actually buy out the deal .”
PHOTO : EMMA MARIE JENKINSON
44 CANADIAN MUSICIAN