Albums Of The Week

Closing and opening chapters on love in Rhye's new album

ELECTRONIC/R&B

BLOOD/RHYE

Loma Vista Recordings

4 stars

If the release of Rhye's 2013 debut Woman was shrouded in mystery - is the singer a he or a she? - a veil of mystery has since been lifted off the Los Angeles electronic soul outfit.

The deliciously limber countertenor belongs to Mike Milosh, a Toronto multi-instrumentalist, who has parted ways with professional partner and Danish producer Robin Hannibal, who also happens to be one half of another duo Quadron.

Meanwhile, Milosh also split from his wife, Nickelodeon actress Alexa Nikolas, whose swan-like neck appears on the sleeve of Woman.

Blood, the follow-up, spells a fresh start for Rhye, now a solo act with a rotating cast of session musicians. Significantly, Milosh has also found new love with multimedia artist Genevieve Medow Jenkins, whose curves grace the cover of the second album.

He acknowledges the end of a chapter with the opening track, Waste. "Such a waste I'm waiting out this time/Such a waste I'm feeling all of this now", goes his supple croon, capturing a gamut of emotions. More resigned than bitter, the voice frays and draws, well, blood when everything threatens to become too luxe for its own good.

"Your face is all I find," he emphasises on the word "face" before taking it down a manly register. The dips and rises render you helpless. Meanwhile, the beats are sturdy, unyielding. Synths circle like sympathetic lapdogs. It's what Milosh aptly terms as "one of those slow-motion explosion break-ups".

The rest of the record points to more hopeful times, with optimism grounded in a burgeoning relationship. Whereas in the past, Rhye toys with romantic archetypes, playing a game of catch me if you can, here, heartache has disarmed its music.

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Milosh is confident enough to let the covers drop and come clean. In a time when gender roles and expectations are being probed, his music flips on machismo and offers equal terms.

The track Please seeks penitance for harsh words as he genuflects, pleads and self-flagellates over stirring strings and dolorous piano: "Oh, baby, please, I'm on my knees."

The results are less cool nocturne, more morning after. Song For You is a lovely, mid-tempo ballad with heart pinned to sleeve. It is a grown-up declaration. "Mmm, I make mistakes/I know things break," he sings, adding that "I feel your heart baby… I feel your pain".

Blood Knows is rooted in the realisation that love isn't all silk sheets, but real, hard work. "Nobody loves a hidden face/So let it just fade away," he coos, before shedding any trace of somnolence, to enunciate clearer and harder: "I'll be calm for you and fearless."

The initial attraction, anchored in a negotiation between come-hithers and second guesses, gives way to an ultimatum. "You kept me waiting/I'll count to five first," he asserts in the slow-funk seduction, Count To Five.

This comes to a head with the stunning closer, Sinful. His voice, pliant and leonine at the same time, casts its magic over a folksy guitar riff. "Don't fake a restless heart… We're shedding enemies," he rasps, as incandescent brass and strings insinuate, and everything is forgiven.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on February 08, 2018, with the headline Closing and opening chapters on love in Rhye's new album. Subscribe