Photo by Rhye (but not of Rhye)
When seductively smooth duo Rhye's candle-lit "Open" started oozing online earlier this year, listeners were left to imagine who exactly was behind the track's breathy, Sade-like vocals. Is she a totally fresh face or a known entity hiding behind a digital cloak? Is she American? British? Is she some sort of savvy industry concoction put together in the wake of similarly subtle UK trio the xx's success? Well, it turns out that she isn't even a "she" at all. The vocalist in question is actually singer/producer Mike Milosh, who's previously released three albums as Milosh on Los Angeles label Plug Research, including 2006's Meme, which features his face on the cover. "I've never thought of myself sounding like a girl," he mildly groused to me over the phone last month. "But I have no control over what people think I sound like-- I'm not going to be like, 'Oh, you don't think I'm man enough?'"
Rhye is a collaboration between Toronto native Milosh and Robin Hannibal of Danish electro-soul outfit Quadron, who both now live in L.A. The pair linked up two years ago when Milosh was commissioned to remix a Quadron song. "I didn't want to do a traditional remix," he says, "so did some singing, and it ended up with me flying to Copenhagen and us doing a song together instead." One song turned into an EP, which eventually led to Rhye's debut full-length, which is out early next year on Polydor/Innovative Leisure/Seven Four.
At the moment, Milosh is putting the finishing touches on his next solo album. As for Rhye, they plan to perform a few "low-key" shows early next year in Los Angeles, before hitting the road in earnest in March. The touring version of the band will include Milosh and a crew of musicians-- and if anyone's still uncertain as to who's behind the band by then, Milosh assures that the mystery will be put to rest: "People will definitely see who I am-- I'm not going to be hiding behind a mask or anything."
Pitchfork: When Rhye's songs started making the rounds, you guys were billed as anonymous. Why?
Mike Milosh: I don't like what's happening with music now. It's all image, coming from people who are supposed to be at the height of fashion. The music's taking a backseat. I didn't want Rhye to be anonymous as a gimmick, it just felt incredibly wrong to lead with imagery of myself or Robin. We want people to just hear the music and form their own experience with it. If you like it, you like it. If you don't, you don't.
Pitchfork: At the same time, presenting yourself as anonymous is precisely at the height of fashion in music right now.
MM: I didn't really consider that. What other people are doing is irrelevant, though I did read something that compared us to bands that have started out as anonymous. I was like, "Oh well, that's not what we're trying to do." I still think it's more important to lead with the music. I am not an egotistical individual.
Pitchfork: Rhye's music does sound very intimate, though-- were you worried that the choice to be anonymous in the beginning would diminish that intimacy?
MM: The intimacy should speak for itself. We put out this viral video where I'm singing a version of "Open" to my wife in our living room. There's a little candle, and you can't see who's singing. It's a really intimate video to post on the internet. I hate that music is so debaucherous these days. It's all overly sexualized in a perverse way. Love is beautiful, and sex is beautiful, and I don't think those things should be shown in a grotesque way. I'm just attempting to express love and sensuality in a very honest way.
Pitchfork: The cover of The Fall EP is a naked human back, which definitely drives home the project's concern with the physicality of love.
MM: Just before I started working with Robin, I met my wife. When you're just getting into a romance that's honest and true, all your ideas come from that and all your thoughts are borne from this palpable sexuality that's based on a love that you have for a person. Incidentally, Robin had just met this girl that he had very much fallen for, and she was the reason why he moved to L.A. We were both very passionate about the idea of being in love with these women. There's a song on the record called "Woman" and it's just me singing the word "woman." I was thinking about my wife as I was singing that, but I didn't want to get specific to the point where I was saying her name-- it's just a woman that I'm in love with.
Pitchfork: How did you and Robin decide on the name for the project?
MM: We actually decided that we would never tell anyone that.
