LA-based singer/songwriter Miki Rose has been on the road as long as she can remember. Hailing from Brighton in the UK, but living in cities as myriad as Paris and Boston, Miki’s first foray into music composition began as child’s play in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A subsequent move to Texas at age 10 exposed her to American culture, drastically expanding her musical world as she became attuned to the likes of Erykah Badu and D’Angelo. With a neo-soul streak firmly ingrained, Miki attended Berklee College of Music before breaking it for the city of dreams. Miki’s debut solo EP “XOXO” emerges from an on going journey to discover a voice that is honest and undeniably her own. Disillusioned by multiple residency gigs in LA and feeling a lack of connection to what she was performing, Miki returned to songwriting hoping to unearth something raw and genuine, and to make music unfiltered by the structured lens of her formal education. After putting out a series of ‘flips’ written over beats from up-and-coming producers that resonated with her, Miki began to connect with like-minded musicians with support from MOOVMNT, eventually leading her to cross paths with Darker Than Wax. “XOXO” features Miki’s distinctive voice supported by an all-star lineup of producers from the Darker Than Wax stable - fzpz (Singapore), Giorgio Oehlers (Netherlands), KA-YU (Netherlands), and Silo (Belgium). The beats are a strong representation of the Darker Than Wax sound, with neon synths, dreamy chords, and swung rhythms woven together in an undeniably soulful style. Yet these are more than just instrumentals with a vocal on top; they are full-fledged songs. Sonically diverse but retaining a cohesive structure, the productions complement Miki’s spontaneous and organic approach to songwriting. This sensitivity to Miki’s intentions shines through in every song, driving the energy of her verse forward at times, and at others giving space to her voice as she traces the turns of emotion following a heartbreak. While “XOXO” serves as a showcase of both Miki’s and the producers’ individual talents, it is also a statement about maintaining artistic integrity in the face of life’s emotional challenges.
