Miles Oliver - Color Me (2018)

Like a lonely cowboy, he walks in the confines of folk music. In riding partner, the shadow of Bonnie "Prince" Billy hangs over this third Parisian album. Ten pieces with dark writing, where lo-fi rock rhythms ("Saturdaze") strike more sad-folk notes ("I wander why"). The throbbing guitar loops backing those of piano ("Synth Mary") hang the ear. A feeling of tension emerges, where the artist gets rid of all superfluous and other artifices in his arrangements ("Nothing to hide"). The musical intelligence of this new album is summed up by the symbiosis between the abrasive sounds and the texts carried by its beautiful broken voice. The English supplants the French, but that does not matter, the heavy atmosphere manages however to create a thrill, so much the cold beauty is essential with the wire of the plays. A certain charm.