Rainy Milo – 'This Thing Of Ours' review
With a sweetly girlish, sing-song delivery reminiscent of Lily Allen, combined with Amy Winehouse’s reedy, slightly strung-out groans, there’s plenty to enjoy about Rainy Milo’s debut album from a vocal perspective. The production, too, draws from a pleasingly broad base: Massive Attack’s Bristolian interpretation of dub and reggae receives a subtle update here, and is interlaced with everything from jazz-inflected hip-hop to lover’s rock.
Unfortunately though, for This Thing of Ours, the songwriting is maddeningly inconsistent, and is only occasionally a match for Milo’s impressive voice and the diverse sonic textures. For every Deal Me Briefly, a stately ballad with an addictive, labyrinthine melody, there’s characterless, sub-All Saints boredom of Treasure Girl; the smoky horns and swaggering bass that underpins Rats is immediately followed by meandering yawn of Miss You.
With her thick south London accent and BRIT School background, Milo strikes a more-than-passing resemblance to Katy B, but lacks the latter’s substance. While her debut soars in parts, it’s an uneven whole, too slight and polite to be truly arresting.
6/10
