R&B Outfit Rhye Rise From The Ashes On Latest Album 'BLOOD'

 

The quiet storm phenom originated in the mid-'70s with a late-night radio show hosted by Melvin Lindsey on Washington DC's WHUR FM. Naming his program A Quiet Storm after Smokey Robinson's hallowed album, Lindsey selected mellifluous R&B and jazz – slo' jams. It proved a sensation – and the quiet storm format developed into a genre and aesthetic. The movement introduced its own superstars: Luther Vandross, Anita Baker and, from the UK, Sade. Eventually, quiet storm would be equated with 'adult contemporary' (cue: Toni Braxton's Diane Warren-penned Un-Break My Heart). But quiet storm also presaged '90s neo-soul. Indeed, Maxwell hired Sade's cohort Stuart Matthewman to co-produce 1996's Urban Hang Suite. However, it was Aaliyah who pioneered an avant-garde quiet storm on connecting with then-newcomers Timbaland and Missy Elliott (YouTube the Quiet Storm Mix of her 4 Page Letter!). Today, she's a pivotal influence on nouveau quiet stormers – from the post-dubstep The xx and James Blake to a Drunk In Love-era Beyonce. Canada's Daniel Caesar, touring Australia behind 2017's Freudian this March, is a quiet storm artiste. 

 

Michael Milosh and Robin Hannibal already had established careers when they conceived Rhye as a studio vehicle. Milosh, a classically-trained musician from Canada, was cutting IDM as a solo act in Berlin. Meanwhile, the Danish Hannibal was in the cult electro-soul outfit Quadron with singer Coco O. (Kendrick Lamar cameoed on their second album, Avalanche.) Both Milosh and Quadron were aligned with the Plug Research label.

With Milosh as frontman, Rhye ushered in a modish quiet storm that was initially classified as 'alt-R&B'. The mysterious duo generated blog buzz with their sensuously beguiling soul-pop ballads Open and The Fall, shared anonymously online. Many listeners were struck by Milosh's breathy, androgynous contralto. 

Signing to UMG, Rhye's debut Woman revealed more romantic and intimate beat 'n' synth balladry – Milosh (presumably) writing about his relationship with The Walking Dead actor Alexa Nikolas. Rhye toured solidly, reaching Australia in 2015. Incredibly, few media-types clicked that Hannibal had long abandoned Rhye.

 

Milosh recently told NPR, "Robin was involved less than people realise, in that we made the first record Woman together – it was a bedroom record that we did very quickly in a bedroom studio – and he kind of backed out of the project at that point. When I signed the project to Polydor, he wasn't involved at that point. There's this one misconception that he was part of the band – and he actually really wasn't. He hasn't played a single show with us live." (Currently Hannibal is focussing on his work as a writer/producer – being credited on Kimbra's new trap-soul single, Human.) Alas, post-Woman, Milosh battled his label. More personal, he and Nikolas divorced. 

Rhye is now a fluid musical collective with Milosh as leader. Since mid-2017, they've disseminated successive singles off BLOOD – the first, Please, all delicate vocals, piano and percussion (the B-side, Summer Days, was remixed into a house anthem by Germany's Roosevelt, from the Greco-Roman stable). Though still at heart a soft R&B album, BLOOD is subtly distinct from Woman. Inspired by Rhye's live concerts, Milosh favours 'real' over synthetic instrumentation – ensuring an organic sensory experience. The singer/songwriter has even suggested that BLOOD is "a little more psychedelic". 

 

BLOOD follows the arc of one relationship ending and another beginning. Yet, here, Rhye's spacious minimalism sounds sorrowful as much as sensual. The album opens with the dramatic Waste – Milosh, as his own soldier of love, singing about "changes" over swelling strings. Song For You is a wistful acoustica jam that could have been penned by Braxton's ally Babyface. Sadness aside, BLOOD has more uptempos than Woman. The songs Taste, Feel Your Weight and Count To Fivecarry a funky disco groove – the last with Nile Rodgers-like guitar licks. And, yes, Rhye do bring the rapture with Phoenix – their most rockin' track. Really, BLOOD is smoothfm for cool peepz.