Onboard With Miles From Kinshasa As He Goes ‘Overboard’
Yep I’m ready to go overboard about Miles From Kinshasa. But, sidenote, I’m wary of this constant need to prematurely declare the second coming of Frank Ocean or Weekend every time a new artist drops a tune. Sobering though it is, is the realisation that once you take Adele and Ed Sheeran out of the equation, the landscape for British singers breaking across the channel has been a little bleak.
We got work to do, so for now forget the declarations of greatness and establish some solid ground for a refreshing new breed of musicians. We’re far from an existential crisis when it comes to new talent, Tom Tripp, Mina Rose, Cosmo Pyke and Miles From Kinshasa stand apart in a way that gives me reason to believe there’s something more to the new British renaissance than just more alt-R&B.
Chronicled as the tribulations of a young man, ‘LIMBO’ the forthcoming project from Miles From Kinshasa, is his attempt to address his own “Millennial existential crisis”. Tackling everything from “relationship issues, spirituality, duality, mourning, fear of adulthood, belonging, religion,” while it doesn’t sound like a light touch topically, sonically it’s pretty light on the ears.
‘Overboard’ is Miles’ fourth single to surface after dropping a pretty dope performance of his third single ‘Could We Just Talk Instead’ on COLOURS last month. If his stage name doesn’t give it away, Miles From Kinshasa (aka Vivien Kongolo) was literally born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and raised in a South London council estate. A singer, multi-instrumentalist and producer he’s the epitome of a DIY musician, creating a project in his own bedroom and unveiling it track by track with an assured patience. Vocally sound and musically fluid, his music is a type of coming of age story – “These feelings of not knowing what to feel, what to think, what to do, who to be, what to believe in, who you will become. The project poses questions that are still trying to be answered rather than trying to impart some kind of realisation or post-adolescent wisdom. Laying in LIMBO demands patience you may not possess yet in order for you to overcome and heal. Hold tight, endure your wait.”
Catch Miles From Kinshasa at his first ever headline show at Bermondsey Social Club on 18th October, and if you’re feeling in ‘LIMBO’ go on and pre-order it now.
