Rainy Milo – I Knew I Had a Heart EP review
There’s something special about Rainy Milo. It’s not the fact her name sounds like an intriguing cocktail mixture and an oddball cartoon character at the same time. It’s not fact that she has the air of a stylish rebel about her. And it’s not the fact that her music is a delicious combination of wavy R&B in the vein of Miguel and SZA. It’s all three of these things in unison.
This Thing of Ours, the debut album from this talented south London singer, 21, who has British and Guyanese roots, flew under the radar for many back in 2014. Fortunately, Milo hasn’t stopped making music. Her new EP, I Knew I Had a Heart (Because I Felt It Breaking), is stuffed with songs that affirm Milo as a musician and singer with plenty still to give.
A cornerstone of Milo’s music is echo effects, or reverb, administered to her vocals. Married with lethargic, jazzy basslines, and wonky electronic synths, and this gives many of Milo’s songs a hazy, intoxicated feel. Whatever you prefer to call it, psych R&B, alt R&B, “treehouse”, Milo’s music has got moxie. Tough love (‘Swimming on Me’) and lovers playing hard to get (‘Speed Limit’) are recurring themes for Milo. The wavy ‘Missing the Rain’, produced by Zeph Ellis, shows off Milo’s figurative flare (“Boy you have touched my soul / Strawberry to my sugar bowl”).
Meanwhile, on ‘Know This’, something of a hip hop experiment, Milo is joined by Sacramento singer Baegod to dispense attitude, Jhené Aiko-style. Finally, though it fades out slightly too abruptly, that doesn’t stop closing number ‘You and I’ from becoming a favourite, thanks to the pulsing synths, piano rhythm and Milo’s minty vocals. SZA meets Doja Cat meets Lily Allen, that’s Rainy Milo. And with style and substance in spades it’s a wonder that she isn’t getting more attention already.
4/5
I Knew I Had a Heart (Because I Felt It Breaking) EP is out now on Limey Records.
If you like this artist, check out: SZA; Doja Cat
Image: Photo courtesy of Rainy Milo