It’s confession time. We’ve been listening to Rhye for most of the year now after the release of the Open EP and more recently, “The Fall” single. Like most people, we didn’t know too much about him/her/them to start with but had learnt a little more by the time we wrote about them a few weeks ago, we listed 10 things we knew about them in fact. One thing we didn’t know was pretty fundamental as we considered the velveteen, Sadé-esque vocals. The singer is a guy.
In our defence, this revelation has only recently come to light but still, it’s a little embarrassing for us. In a recent Q&A with Factmag.com Mike Milosh, for it is he who sings, said;
“I personally found it a little funny. I was surprised that there was that number of individuals out there that actually thought I was a woman but it didn’t effect (sic) me in any negative way”.
He may have been surprised that we all thought he was a woman, but given the remarkable similarity in his voice to that of the mesmerising beauty of Helen Folasade Adu, not as surprised as we were when we found out he wasn’t. The Toronto native (who formally released music just as Milosh), is joined in Rhye by Dane Robin Hannibal (formally of electro-soul group Quadron) and the pair now reside in LA where they plan to play some intimate shows early next year before touring more fully.
So, shocks and surprises aside, why should you listen out for this duo next year? Simple. The music is divine. On both “Open” and “The Fall”, Milosh sings with a breathy melancholy, haunting and beautiful. The tracks are rich and smooth like a vintage red wine in the company of good friends, the arrangements deft, delicate and subtle, awash with a languid sophistication. Both seem to offer glimpses into the intimacy of a love, pained, private and profound.
The duo have received much critical acclaim in the last year, and rightly so, and 2013 promises much more as they gear up to release their debut album. We can’t wait, even if we still can’t quite get our head round the fact that it’s not a female singer.
Stalk Rhye: Website / Facebook / Twitter / SoundCloud
Read More: Watch: Rhye – “The Fall”
Alphabet Bands 
Haha, I think I knew it was a dude, think I read his name and thought oh, it’s a guy…but yeah….the vocal so could be a girl!