Miles Kane released new album Sunlight in the Shadows this week.
I absolutely love the energy of this album. It opens strong with singles Love is Cruel and Electric Flower and continues with an impressive sonic consistently throughout the 12 tracks that make up Sunlight in the Shadows.
It’s a light funk, guitar effects and synth driven album. And while the pace of individual songs changes – whether it’s the vocals, guitars or keys – there’s this ongoing distorted, somewhat ethereal sound that runs through each track holding them all together. It’s somewhere between a Hollywood-esque Vaccines’ style and DMA’s more shoegaze sound, and of course you can’t ignore the obvious Black Keys’ elements either (the album was produced by Dan Auerbach). It shows that sometimes stepping into a new space with new people around you really does pay dividends as an artist.
I’ve struggled with my relationship with Miles Kane’s music over the years. I don’t think he’s a weak artist, far from it, but I often think his threshold of what to include in an album could be higher. Tracks which would be better suited to b-sides (or honestly relegated to the cutting room) have too often crept onto albums and diluted the impact of his skills as a songwriter. But I didn’t have any of those feelings here and I’m hoping Sunlight in the Shadows is a reflection of his ever-growing confidence as an artist.
It’s not a flawless album. Sing A Song To Love for example is too loud and cluttered for my liking. It’s a battle to hear the vocals. But it’s an album of more highlights that lowlights. I still adore Love is Cruel and have done since the moment I first heard it. It suits both Kane’s voice and his showmanship perfectly. I also really enjoyed album closer Walk On The Ocean. While it’s a more stripped back ballad there’s still a pace on those drums that elevates the song. The switch up to a more industrialised style part way through is unexpected and it’s just enough to push the song into something more unique. It easily could have ruined the track, and hitting that knife’s-edge of balance between pushing the envelope but having the restrain not to take it too far is tricky, but Kane and his production team manage this well.
This is a project Kane should be proud of, it represents strong growth for him as a solo artist and is something he should use as a stepping board to guide future releases. Whatever changed this time around, we want more of it in the future.
Listen to Sunlight in The Shadows here.