Once he was in the clear , contractually , and could start releasing music again ( currently with Last Gang Records in Canada and Loma Vista Recordings in other territories ), Milosh didn ’ t waste time . Evidently someone who likes to keep busy , he has now released three full-length albums in four years .
“ I think somewhere in the back of my mind , I am trying to create a huge body of work ,” he says . “ But like any motivational speaker would tell you , you got to focus on every game . I focus on every song that I ’ m working on . I know that it ’ s part of an album , so I ’ m creating , like , an arc in the story . Especially this record , [ Home ], which has an intro , and then the album forms , and then it takes a very specific path , contextually , and then it ’ s got an outro to tell you the record is over . So , it very much is intended to be a full body of work .”
Known for the intimacy of his lyrics , when all is said and done , Milosh hopes the Rhye records will tell his story , whatever that may be . “ I ’ m kind of just trusting my subconscious to tell that story as opposed to , you know , I don ’ t have it plotted out yet . But being so tied to my personal life and making everything so journal-oriented , it just kind of happens naturally . So , I ’ m not playing a character ,” he says . “ Like ‘ My Heart Bleeds ,’ for example , lyrically , that song is a result of some pretty
intense stuff that happened to my friend Austin Brown ’ s cousin . It really bothered me – it was a racially-motivated , violent act . It really got under my skin . You know , I ’ m a very inclusive individual , and anything that ’ s exclusionary or racist or violent really bothers me , so that that song is like a request to the general populace to try to love each other and get along , and hopefully we can make some changes .”
At heart , for an artist like Milosh , music is not a selfish act . There ’ s enjoyment and selfsatisfaction in it , certainly , but for him , but the goal is tapping into different energies and putting positive art into the world . And so , it ’ s fitting that over the last two years , Milosh and his partner , Genevieve Medow-Jenkins , along with friends like Diplo and guitarist Joel Shearer , have produced a series of live ambient music events called Secular Sabbath . Though the Rhye-esque grooves are gone in these events , it ’ s not hard to draw a line between the blissful music of his main gig and these multi-hour sonic retreats .
“ I ’ m a pretty spiritual individual . I ’ m not religious , per se , but yeah , music to me is actually very mystical ,” says the soft-spoken artist . “ Then you just have to merge that with the music business kind of thing , which is putting songs out and the logistics of touring or whatever financial hurdle you have . But the actual creation of songs , and the whole point of putting out songs , is you ’ re trying to put your voice in culture in general . That ’ s a very sociological kind of endeavor , but you don ’ t think of it that way . I think of it as , you ’ re tapping into something , you ’ re tapping into the mystic , and I ’ ve always felt like I was channeling something from some river of music above me .”
Michael Raine is the Editor-in-Chief of Canadian Musician .
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The Sonic Foundation that Home is Built On
CM : For the gearheads , do you want to geek out a bit on the main instruments and studio gear you used for Home ?
Michael Milosh : Yeah , let ’ s do it for the gearheads !
Every synthesizer I have is allotted to a very specific preamp based on the tonal quality of that preamp . So , I ’ ve got like two different 1073s that two of my Moogs go through . I ’ ve got different valve-based preamps for anything guitar-based , which is by Thermionic Culture . It ’ s all valve-based . I also use a Culture Vulture by Thermionic Culture , which is like a distortion unit , but it ’ s valve-based . So , for anything guitar-y to get those tones , I ’ m really leaning on the character of valves or tubes to break up and to create that happenstance that you could never get from a plug-in .
So , I lean heavily on my [ Yamaha ] E3 piano that I designed a mute for . It ’ s like a custom mute on a lever that I don ’ t think anyone else has . My vocal sound is definitely tied to a Neumann U67 . A new one , because I ’ ve used a lot of vintage ones , but actually liked the new one . And that goes to a Manley Slam , which is a beautiful preamp / compressor , but I just only use the preamp from it . And then I use a Tube Tech CL 1B as a compressor , but I don ’ t sing with compression on . I ’ m really adamant that my mic technique has to be there . I got to rely on my ability versus gear , in a way . And then we run my vocals through the CL 1B , but we only put one to two dBs of compression , max , on my vocals because I don ’ t want to destroy transients and energy .
To get the drum tone that I have , it ’ s a double-compressor combination that I use . It ’ s a TG1 by Chandler and then I go to a dbx 165A , which is one of the early dbx ’ s , to get some of that dusty sand on the snare . Sometimes I put a little of the Culture Vulture distortion unit on the snare , specifically . And we ’ re talking really minor amounts of distortion , just to get a
dustiness , you know ?
That ’ s kind of my methodology , where everything has a designated preamp and I ’ m kind of mixing while I ’ m working by choosing things . Because every preamp and compressor has a unique tonal character , once you get that , you don ’ t have to try to fix it in the mix as much .
But in terms of EQ , I use an SSL Fusion to bring air into things . Also , a Kush Audio Clariphonic unit goes on the piano to bring air into a heavily-muted piano or top end . And then I use a Curve Bender on drums , which is very precise EQ , and then an API 5500 . Then the buss compressors are an API 2500 and then I also have a Manley Variable Mu . Actually , if you want to know a secret , I take all the strings and I buss them to the Variable Mu – the valve-based compressor that is very , very good on anything that ’ s legato . It ’ s not good at bringing down quick transients – for me I don ’ t love it – but I absolutely love it on anything that ’ s whole notes and long-winded . Yeah , it just has an incredible , beautiful character . It almost brings out frequencies that you didn ’ t know were there , especially when you ’ re dealing with 32 tracks of strings and stuff like that .
That was geeky , but if you say “ geek ,” I ’ ll go there !
For our full conversation with Michael Milosh – including much more about his songwriting process , growing up in Toronto as a cello prodigy , discovering his love of electronic music , making music videos , and more – listen to the March 31 , 2021 , episode of the Canadian Musician Podcast .
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