Limey EP
Born and raised in South East London, of Guyanese and British decent, Rainy Milo came onto the local music scene with a conviction and presence not to be ignored.
At the age of 14 rainy began working on collaborations, and singing parts on songs with local artists and several music and arts collectives from around her area "I was desperate to surround myself with talented people my age, I wanted to feel part of something, to feel understood and share my passion with other people who strived to be better than themselves too.
"There was so little of that where I live ; an area which gave little hope to anyone, its almost like they were told that they had a crappy fate and were willing to just go along with it."
Rainy found herself combing the internet for hours searching for free Jazz and Hip Hop beats, finally she came across one with a 'nice yellow picture' , an inspiring Jazzy hip hop instrumental produced by BLCK RSSN, only half way through the instrumental she began writing , the outcome 'Bout You and with a very inspired vocal take start to finish, the song was recorded. Within a short while of posting it up on her tumblr page the reaction was astonishing. 'Bout You’ had taken on a life of its own.
After several write ups in music blogs and a feature in i-D Magazine, Gilles Peterson plucked the record for inclusion on his 'Brownswood Bubblers' series Vol. 8 which was a magical moment for Rainy.
The interest from record labels was overwhelming however Rainy was certain that it wasn't the time for that and declined the offers, a bold move and a direct expression of the kind of conviction that Rainyholds when it comes to her music.
Her mission was to express herself creatively without the opinions or influence of others, she set out to record her own music resulting in her debut mix tape entitled Limey. A collection of songs written on red buses, tubes, cloudy days and chilly nights in London.
Growing up on everything from her grandfather's music collection (a reggae DJ) to her sister influence of R&B and Hiphop and Rainy'sown favorites ranging from N.E.R.D, Kid Cudi and Amy Winehouse to Warpaint and The Internet.
Rainy began putting the word out to her peers that she was looking for music to suit her very direct and soulful vocal style and through that word of mouth came all the musical ideas that she began writing to. Ideas poured in from all over the world, carefully choosing the most inspiring ones including and idea from Australian artist Chet Faker which she titled 'Don't Regret Me' as well as a record from Los Angeles Producer Cole M.G.N called 'This Thing Of Ours'.
After hearing the original version of ‘Come Up And See Me’ (Make Me Smile) by Steve Harley (Cockney Rebel ) she decided to rerecord it taking a sadder more down tempo approach to the song.
On a short break from London Rainy made excellent use of a small private studio filled with vintage gear and classic microphones to record the vocals for the five songs that would become her debut release, Limey. Upon arrival home to London she posted one of the 5 songs ' The Other Way' a sparse, dark hip hop record that clearly questions the direction of a relationship.
This October she releases the rest of the tracks that complete her work - Introducing Rainy Milo.
Track listing :
The Other Way
Don't Regret Me
'Bout You
Come Up And See Me
This Thing