#rainy miller

[grrl-gxm]

Rainy Miller, Lauren Duffus, Bianca Scout, and 2k88

[grrlmusic]

Rainy Miller, Lauren Duffus, Bianca Scout, & 2K88 - Poetic Fallacy

[skeletonfumes]

[dustedmagazine]

Rainy Miller — Joseph, What Have You Done (Fixed Abode)

An atmosphere of nowhere towns in dank post-industrial landscapes scarred by decay, cut through by motorways to elsewhere informs Lancashire born Rainy Miller’s new album. On Joseph, What Have You Done? he identifies an inheritance of class and generational conflict as a crucible of  personal trauma in a genre-fluid style which he labels “Northern Gothic.”  A portrait of place, position and self, Miller uses abstract ambience, acoustic balladry, bursts of noise and spoken word interludes to confront what holds one down and who holds one back.

He starts with systems. “Mud in my Mouth (Predetermined Definitions)” uses interment as a metaphor a class system maintained through the internalization of imposed position “Dragged from the cot in which we laid/To the hill/To watch them dig our graves/One foot on the neck/And one foot on the spade” Through the switches in style and mood, Miller maintains and elaborates his themes as he digs deeper into the personal costs of that legacy and draws back to make connections with family, community and nation. The direct confessional approach and stylistic leaps may be jarring for some but Miller’s recurring imagery — of dank atmospheres, wounded souls, miscommunication and mental health problems — tie the album together. Jazz drummer Jonathan Ludvigsen, Hi-Vis singer Graham Sayle and composer August Rosenbaum make key contributions. The first with a purging solo on “An Obsidian Lake Spews out of Me,” the latter two to the dark grind of “Vengeance.”  On the title track over undulating electronics and strings, Manchester artist Christopher Bryan offers a sermon on young and old dreams:  “Lancashire, Land of Piss and Vinegar Towns/Our mothers named us and they named us murder/There, they say to the young/I’ve had it up to here/The palm pressed flat against the neck or the head/Don’t ask us to look to the sky for solace/The answers fall in rain again/Soft wet bullets met screw faced forcing us downwards almost in prayer to the solid ground”

In the video for their 1991 single “It’s Grim Up North,” The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (AKA KLF)  perform in pouring rain, illuminated by the headlights of passing vehicles. Over a thumping industrial beat Bill Drummond recites a list of Northern towns, interspersed with the title refrain. As the beat drops, the strains of “Jerusalem” swell and Mark E Smith’s words “The North Will Rise Again” roll. Musically it never left but Rainy Miller goes beyond dots on the map to bring us a nuanced expression of the pain and resilience of the communities those dots represent.

Andrew Forell

[seanmorroww]

Rainy Miller & Space Afrika - "Maybe It's Time to Lay Down the Arms"

A Grisaille Wedding [Fixed Abode, 2023]

[radiophd]

rainy miller x space afrika ft. voice actor -- summon the spirit / demon

[wavcapkilla]

Rainy Miller | Different

[seanmorroww]

2K88 / Lauren Duffus / Rainy Miller / Bianca Scout - "Salto"

Everything Always Changes, For We’re Truly Here [Fixed Abode, 2026]