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That Miles Benjamin Antony Robinson is a man of many names I am certain of but is he also the man of many talents as he has been dubbed by musos around the world? I went to his debut UK headline show at The Lexington near Kings Cross to find out.

Miles has been in the country for two weeks, and in between touring has been lodging in the offices of his new found musical home, Transgressive Records, conveniently just next to the venue for tonight’s show. Miles tells me ‘I’ve been living in this bar’ and in a bar with a bottle of whisky certainly seems a place where he and his songs would be at home.

Miles’ voice is almost as throaty as some of his young peers like Micah P Hinson and Bright Eyes to which comparisons are already being drawn. There’s also a bit of young Dylan in there for me. Whatever the mixture it is one that works despite the vocals being drowned out quite a bit due to the proximity of my head to Miles’ guitar amp. His playing often moves from a soft strum to an all out assault within the space of a couple of minutes like on the excellent album opener ‘Buriedfed’, a track that Miles wrote when he was just 19.

All impressive band members, including violinist, keyboard/ bass player and drummer, seem to be on a high, enjoying their last show together before Miles heads home. Whether taking us through energetic numbers like ‘Woodfriend’ or more sombre songs like ‘Boneindian’ there’s a comfort between them and a lot of exchanged smiles. Miles’ dark lyrics often contain a welcome sense of humour and are delivered with an almost ever-present grin like in ‘The Debtor’ when Miles proclaims ‘I’m not sure I want to stay alive, it’s so expensive that you could die’.

Some have already predicted this album will be as pivotal as Bon Iver’s masterpiece ‘For Emma Forever Ago’ was last year. It’s unlikely that Miles’ more raucous but no less heartfelt songs will appeal to the masses on the same level as that album did but they will hopefully come close. Obviously a man with big plans for the future, Miles closes the show with a song he says will be the last song on the next album, tentatively titled ‘Always An Anchor’. On that evidence alone there is much to come from this 25 year old Brooklynite, let’s just hope the album comes out before ‘2017’ as he jests.

For Fans Of: Bright Eyes, Micah P Hinson, Bob Dylan.

Nick Whitcomb

mp3: Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson – Woodfriend

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