Sophie is a passionate fan of Rhye. So much so, that other interviews had to work around the duo’s set at Pitchfork Music Festival in Paris… How cute is that (Friday 30th October 2015). We are very proud to defend EVRY single artist or musical project we share here on Sodwee.com. So, to feed her undying love for the Rhy’s music, Sophie chased the phone number down for some nightly chat with Mike Milosh… Here’s what came out of the conversation.
Rhye formed in 2010 as an American/Danish R&B duo based in Los Angeles, California after members Milosh (Canadian singer) and Robin Hannibal (Danish instrumentalist) met in previous projects.
The pair have released beautiful singles and remained a mystery online until the duo came out. Still reletively unknown of the public eye, they will play live at the #P4K Music Festival on Friday 30th of October at 19h15. They drop collaborations with a number of high-profile artists around the world such as Quadron… Their debut album Woman was released in March 2013 to critical acclaim around the world. Below is the new tracks from J.Views featuring Milosh’s beautifully pristine vocal work :
[separator type=”space”]Interview by Sophie. Additional intro by Sodwee.
[separator type=”thick”]” I don’t think I’m an amazing cellist anymore !” – Milosh on his Cellist career…
You’ll be performing at Pitchfork Music Festival and I guess it will be your first real concert in Paris, right ?
I’ve been to Paris multiple times, as a tourist when I was 18 and I also did a video there. Last year I also did a show for Louis Vuitton in the Louis Vuitton Foundation and I played at the Silencio so it won’t be my first concert in Paris but we can say the first non-private one !
Could you come back on how Rhye was created ?
Rhye was created when I went to Berlin (Germany) to work on a remix of a track for Quadron, (a Danish duo with a blend of indie pop, electronica, soul & jazz) alongside Coco Maja Hastrup Karshøj. I was based in LA at the time, working on different projects so it was pretty much back and forth between Berlin and LA. Eventually I moved to Los Angeles.We created the duo Rhye there.
Your first album, Woman, revolved around the idea that love was ephemeral. Each song represents a stage of a love affair so which song favourite ?
(laughing) That’s a tough question ! I don’t think there’s a favourite stage, it’s all extremely exciting and invigorating. I mean it made me move from Berlin to L.A so it changed my whole life ! I don’t think there’s one particular stage that I could say is my favourite. When you meet someone you do want to take a chance on. There’s a lot of fear, excitement, sexual energy as well as intellectual compatibility. That’s what the whole record is about.
[separator type=”thick”] [separator type=”thick”]When The Fall and Open were released, people had no idea who was behind the moniker Rhye. Do you sometimes miss the time when things were a bit more mysterious ?
No, not really… I live a pretty humble life so it’s not like I get a red carpet. People don’t really know what I look like, I’m not a celebrity. No one really cares and nothing has changed. The one thing I do like is walking on the audience and getting a feel of what the people are like before we play. It has its advantage that I’m not a celebrity, I can walk through and it won’t be a big deal. I don’t hide to people either, I sign autographs after shows sometimes.
Did you take it as a compliment when people thought a woman was singing or were you offended ?
(laughing) In a way it was neither here nor there because I have this opinion that you cannot control what other people think of you. Once you put something into the world, it’s totally out of your hands. I often feel that if I paid too much attention on what people think, it would sort of really influence me. I would get nervous and worry about people who don’t like my music. I didn’t agree though… I don’t think I sound like a woman, I just have a soft voice so it’s funny.
[infobox maintitle=”RHYE LIVE AT #P4K IN PARIS” subtitle=”On Friday at 19h15 ! BE THERE, OR BE SQUARE” bg=”orange” color=”black” opacity=”off” space=”30″ link=”no link”]For Open you released two videos. Why ?
It’s kind of simple and selfish. When we did the first Open video we had no money. The idea seemed very nice and the director kind of understood the song. Then I wanted to achive something else with the second video. Suddenly we were signed on Polydor and we had access to a lot of money to shoot the video. I’m super interested in films in general so we tried to shoot a more ambitious video with better cameras and more like a short film. That song is the most important song for me on the record because I was very moved. It’s basically begging someone to be open to you, emotionally. I actually think I failed in achieving what I was trying to get with this second video though. That’s probably why we didn’t shoot a third video, we didn’t want to be disappointed! (laughing).
[separator type=”thick”] [separator type=”thick”]I know you’re a classically-trained cellist but you’re not playing the cello live.
I used to be very good but I don’t think I’m an amazing cellist anymore ! (laughing) I do do some percussions live but for me I try to keep focused on the vocals. It’s the most important thing for me.
You’re also playing some of your solo songs live. Is it difficult to move from one project to another one while on stage ?
No, not at all. The reason why I chose those songs is cause they fit very well in the set. I really enjoy those moments. When I do It’s Over, I don’t usually do it, it’s probably my favorite song to perform live. We altered the songs to fit in so it’s not very difficult.
2013 was a very busy year for you with Woman and also Jetlag, your fourth studio album. What can we expect from the end of the year or 2016 ?
I won’t release anything this year other than some collab stuff. I did a song with this guy named J.Viewz. You probably know Gotye, he’s also involved in a song too. The project is called The DNA Project. I don’t often do collaborations so when it feels right I do it I’m really glad I agreed to work with J.Viewz because I love the way that song turned out. I wouldn’t change a thing ! I’m also working on a record. It’s all the same players from the Rhye live set. Ben, my keyboardist actually co-wrote three songs with me. He’s a super talented piano player and I love his music sensibility. There are a lot of strings on it, French horn, trombone but it’s a lot softer. I’m really excited about it !
The blog is called Sodwee, standing for Sound of The Week. What would be your sound of the week ?
My sound of the week is the sound trees are making when there’s wind. I live in an area where there are beautiful trees and I just go on my balcony and listen to this sound. That clears my brain, it helpd me kinda reset and approach my music again with a gentle sentiment.
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