As the grey September skies close in, Sun 13 favourite Miles Temp returns with new single Heartbeat and a clutch of gigs to bring the sunshine back to our lives.
Local music fans may have seen Miles play, as he plays many live shows around Merseyside, building up support the old fashioned way, through the twin auspices of graft and good songwriting.
Miles’ last single, Wasn’t There, put us in mind of Radiohead, but with new single Heartbeat he has left such comparisons behind. Heartbeat is a mid-tempo number with what sounds like a full band backing. As such it is more upbeat and substantial than Wasn’t There.
Heartbeat starts with unexpectedly with a keyboard drone before Miles sings and harmonises the first verse. The effect is minimal and effective, and leaves us wondering for a moment if this is how the song will stay, with nominal keyboards providing the backing for the lyrics to float on top of, but a bassline appears to prove us wrong.
Soon a beat is added and Heartbeat takes off as a fully fledged gentle pop song. Miles’ voice is distinctive and emotive, with the word ‘angelic’ popping unbidden into my mind. His tones are well suited to introspective ruminations on life and love and are pitched high in the mix, a trick that only works if the vocals are good enough. They are.
Heartbeat is a song by someone who knows the pain of lost love and who is able to project that anguish at the listener, a cornerstone of literally thousands of great songs. However this is not a down song, despite the chorus finishing on “the way it hurt when you moved on”, there is a beauty in expressing emotions like this, a catharsis that many people will be able to relate to.
It is a brave move for someone primarily known as an acoustic singer songwriter to abandon all guitar on a record, but it works beautifully on Heartbeat. It also begs the question of where Miles Temp will go next.
Watch this space.
Heartbeat is released on Bandcamp today and on the September 24 across all streaming platforms.
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[…] are moving for Sun 13 favourite Miles Temp. The singer/ songwriter has recently signed to Ripe Records and the first fruit of this is new […]