As a music critic who often gets bored with contemporary sonic trends and, in actuality, much prefers the world of cinema, Los Angeles’ Milo Greene is quite refreshing. The band characterize themselves as “cinematic pop,” and have claimed that the primary goal in putting the band together was to ultimately provide scores for film and television. They released their self-titled debut LP in 2012, which rang of exceptionally dynamic indie pop, with roots in a folk aesthetic, that manages to rock very eloquently, and boasts all members on lead vocals at various points. Milo Greene’s sophomore effort, Control, is set to drop on January 27th of next year, and they’re currently on tour with Bombay Bicycle Club, and have a date supporting the band on 10/21 at our own Union Transfer.
I recently got a chance to chat with Milo Greene’s Robbie Arnett, who told me all about what inspires the band and what can be expected of their upcoming area appearance and sophomore effort. I first ask him about the band’s fascination/obsession with film and he admits, “I think we’ve always been influenced by film, which we’ve always had a shared love of.” He also tells me that their greatest hopes are to exist, musically, in the world of film: “I would love to collaborate with filmmakers. We all love the David Lynch films and then David Fincher and what he did with Trent Reznor. The dream is to team up with someone like the Coen Brothers.”
While Milo Greene’s focus has remained similar throughout their career, Robbie tells me that the process of creating the sophomore release was a bit different from the debut.
“I feel like it’s a natural progression. For the writing process, we made a conscious effort to make it a little more individualized, to have each of our own voices be heard. We wrote it in our individual home studios and on the road, whereas the first record was written in the same room, together. I also feel like it’s a little more bold. This one is built a little more around rhythmic grooves.”
Robbie also tells me that, for their current tour, fans of their previous release won’t be disappointed, but that they should also definitely expect to hear a lot of new material (which, thus far, has not been at all a problem): “We’re mostly playing new songs, so it’s interesting to see how people respond to them, but it’s been overwhelmingly positive. It will be a more up-tempo show, a little more lively. We’ll be playing some songs off the first record, but come prepared to hear new music.”
Milo Greene has apparently had a 2014 that they’re quite proud of, although they’re more than a bit anxious to actually get their latest sounds out to the world in 2015, which is what Robbie would seem to be most excited about at the moment.
“Mostly my time has been spent working on the new music, so I haven’t done a whole lot in 2014. The highlight of the year for me has been completing the record and getting that all set. The four of us have a lot of personalities and a lot of opinions, so that’s a huge accomplishment when we can get something like this accomplished, but for 2015 I hope to share it and travel and play and go to as many places as possible, exploring parts of the world we haven’t before, hopefully going overseas again.”
