Audiopile Review: There’s been plenty said about the post-Hype Williams scene that’s emerged out of the UK, one that’s warped hip-hop, R&B, jungle, ambient, and noise into something foggy, nocturnal, and emotionally resonant. Few artists fold it all of the above into their music like Rainy Miller. Since 2022’s arresting Desquamation (Fire, Burn. Nobody) and 2023’s Space Afrika collaboration, A Grisaille Wedding, Miller has steeped his music even deeper into heavy atmosphere and smoked abstraction. His latest release, Joseph, What Have You Done?, is a record in constant flux. Spoken word passages evoke Richie Culver, emotive bursts and crooned melodic lines conjure King Krule, while colder, autotuned vocals are distant and guarded. This same volatility defines the sonic palette, repeatedly dipping us into a lush atmospheric well before snapping into passages driven by drill and breakbeat. Flecks of jungle, industrial textures, vast synths & strings, and a Belong-esque shoegaze haze bleed in and out of focus. Like “hexed!”, aya’s standout release from earlier this year, it reads as a raw, personal document—though Miller’s palette leans melancholic and less confrontational. For fans of Space Afrika, Iceboy Violet, Jawnino, and the shadowy edges of the UK underground, this one is essential.

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Joseph, What Have You Done?, the anticipated new full-length album from Rainy Miller released via his own Fixed Abode label. Rainy Miller is at the forefront of UK electronic music and loosely spinning around the axis of storied Salford club The White Hotel.

Having established himself at the forefront of the new sound of the UK, spearheading the boundary-less scene of alternative music, and gaining continued critical acclaim over the past few years, Rainy Miller presents his most personal project, the culmination of five years of work. The release follows on from his breakout album Desquamation (2022) and follow up, collaborative full-length A Grisaille Wedding (2023). Initially inspired by the 2003 documentary ‘Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus’, an exploration of the intersection between Christianity and country music in the American South, Rainy became entrenched in the parallel similarities between the stories in the film to the stark realities of his own surroundings, the North of England.

Internalizing these connections, and reflecting on his own lived experiences, Rainy created ‘Joseph’ in an aesthetic he coins the Northern Gothic, a quasi anthropological British pastiche of the American Southern Gothic realm of the early 20th century. Visually, the project references the forgotten notion of storytelling and the feeling of community that is prevalent amongst everyday life in the post-industrial North of England. In its bleak and often antiquated surroundings, Rainy explores the inherited pragmatism and resilience of its inhabitants, interjecting his own struggles and conciliations.