Hometown: Brighton.
The lineup: Remi Miles (vocals).
The background: Remi Miles is hard to classify, which is always a good sign, although if we had to put him in any section of a record store it would probably be “pop”, or at a pinch, “indie-electronic-pop”. Live, he has a band, but he’s actually the frontman for a two-piece, even if he’s being “positioned” (marketing speak) as a solo act. Which, reading between the lines, indicates a La Roux-type situation where the quiet half of the pair is a silent partner, even if he is just as creative as the voluble singing half.
Looks-wise, he’s quite the mod dandy, and part of the reason he moved to Blighty, specifically to Brighton, from his hometown of McLean, Virginia – apart from to attend music college – was to be part of the local culture and soak up the style and fashion. Is Brighton still a mod haven? Miles seems to believe so. Reviews of a nascent Remi from a couple of years ago suggest he was heavily under the influence of the 60s and 70s, musically as well as sartorially. These days, he’s much more of an 80s/90s man, even if, in the video to his new single I Want You, he’s clearly still in love with the black-and-white 60s of Blow-Up et al.
As is so often the case, the stuff cited as an influence on him merely amounts to “things he listened to growing up”. Certainly you can’t hear a single atom of Fela Kuti, the Doors or Dylan in his music, nor much of afro-beat, soul or rock’n’roll. What you can hear is not so easy to pinpoint. But it is, as we say, very poppy and breezy, with hooks and synth patterns that instantly mark it out as commercial, but commercial in an 80s sense: the first name that a friend ventured when we asked who she thought Miles sounded like was Prefab Sprout. Sure enough, you could fairly seamlessly segue I Want You into the latter’s 1988 hit Cars and Girls.
You could also imagine him, somewhere down the line, producing something as swoonworthy as David McAlmont’s Unworthy, while the shiny electronics have the feel of Felix Da Housecat circa Everybody’s Someone in LA. He’s more quixotic and idiosyncratic than searing and soulful, all topped off – and this might be his best bet – with a lovely, high voice that is the diametric opposite of all those heavy-breathing belchers of so-called passion doing the rounds these days. In his hands – with those tonsils – everything Remi Miles touches turns to pop gold. He’s even got a track called Under Light Symphonies, a title that captures some of his dextrously arranged music’s magical, weightless shimmer. Watch him go – ever so gracefully – in for the kill.
The buzz: “It’s Flyte with the soul dialled to 11; it’s Duran Duran but, you know, utterly ace.”
The truth: Soul? His music is more Steve Strange than Stevie Wonder.
Most likely to: Make other rising male stars green with envy.
Least likely to: Fade to grey.
What to buy: The Under Light Symphonies EP is out now.
File next to: Prefab Sprout, David McAlmont, Kwes, Scritti Politti.
Links: remimiles.tumblr.com/.
Ones to watch: Purple Ferdinand, Solomon Grey, Strange Names, Beach Baby, Delroy Edwards.
