More about: Miles Kane

Miles Kane is back at his guitar best on his fifth album One Man Band. It’s 11 songs of indie goodness, wrapped in the form of romance, sultry tunes and the love of women who smoke hand-rolled cigarettes and take film photos. 

For an album with four pre-released singles, Miles manages to keep the listener switching between slow and fast, showcasing the highs of his talent as a songwriter, singer, and guitarist. I am of the opinion that an album which, in Miles’ words, is about ‘acknowledging [my] faults and [my] fears and showing the journey [I’m] taking as [I] try to figure it all out’ fits best when coupled with an intimate writing setting – which has been done on the album, which he wrote in his native Liverpool. 

It's almost like this album has been in the works since 2011’s Colour of the Trap, which saw tunes that fit the 2010s indie scene, but left a hole on the side of heartfelt honesty. The 12 years since have clearly advanced Miles’ ability to wear his heart on his sleeve, mixing his musical talent with the transparency that sets certain songwriters apart from chart fodder. 

The album is kicked off with 'Troubled Son', the first single to have been released. It’s a song made for the stage – one that will fit nicely into the start of festival season next year, filled with Albert Hammond Jr-esque guitar licks and a heavier bridge than one might expect from Miles’ discography. This is the taster to the rest of the tracks: songs that wouldn’t go amiss at an indie disco, or between the support and the main acts at a concert. They’re full of life and wonder at the intricacies of humanity, with Miles’ crooning making for a song that is undeniably his innermost thoughts. 

I think Miles has chosen the best tracks to be singles – a positive for those of us who enjoy buying 7” physicals – but this means the unheard-until-release tracks leave a slight dissatisfaction. The best has already been heard, with the remaining tracks filling a generic Miles Kane hole to the listener. Track 4, Never Taking Me Alive, takes a basic riff and repeated ooh-ooh’s all the way through, whereas The Wonder, a sexy song with the line ‘I missed your bones on me’ is the perfect example of non-single versus single. It’s basic versus heart, at its barest. 

Baggio, the second single, is the standout track to me. It’s perfectly described by its final verse:

"Like broken pieces from your favorite breakup song
Those words don't mean a thing where I come from
But I'll sing them forever"

A song hinting at a relationship meant to last, expressed through Kane’s favourite footballer, a constant touchstone of his life – it’s truly perfectly soul-bearing, and shows the overall brilliance of One Man Band: an ability to be vulnerable in one’s art. 

Overall, this is an album that shows Kane’s songwriting standard and its growth over the years: made for the stage, the place where musicians showcase their greatest skill. It’s the indie goodness that everyone feels the urge for a fix of every summer, and I can’t wait to hear it in its live capacity. 

Grab your copy of the Gigwise print magazine here.

More about: Miles Kane