Miles Fisher

Who woulda thunk it? Miles Fisher the actor perhaps best known (and undeservedly so)  for his spoof of Tom Cruise in the film Superhero Movie (hey - 10 million YouTube hits can't be wrong) also has a voice. Not just a voice. An arrestingly excellent voice! He also has a newly released (free for download) E.P. featuring a cover of Talking Heads' This Must Be the Place (Naive Medley) as well as three original compositions!

Since I've downloaded this album I've listened to it daily. All possible resistance and fears of overkill sweetly abated; as the driving rhythms and quirky synthesized melodies, woven together with Miles' restrained mellifluous voice pulse through my eardrums. The album opens with the synth heavy Don't Let Go, something of a love song, but with dash of sour betwixt the sweet, including a personal favorite line: "just because we work, doesn't mean we're mean't to be" . Next up is What We Know, which follows a similar theme both musically and lyrically. The two tracks together seem a two part letter, imploring to a partner not yet departed. A snapshot of a relationship somewhere between the giddy heights of new beginnings and the jagged rocks of inevitable endings, as the two protagonists choose to find stability in one another despite their nagging doubts.  Miles' storytelling is immediately inviting and before you know it, you're singing lines from this song like "it took a lot of walking side by side till we were arm in arm"  in elevators and shopping malls.  By far the best of the originals on this album must be Half a Beer Left. This track sees Miles reverting to a more singer-songwriter formula with the same sharp lyrical insights. More acoustic guitar driven, this song evokes images of chance meetings, plans made, hopes and reflections.  The album concludes with the Talking Heads' cover - This Must Be the Place. It is rare that a cover matches an original but in this case, Miles has managed to so far eclipse the Talking Heads', their tune seems a prototype.  A booming bassline provides an excellent foundation for him to  showcase his vocal ability and the electronic harmonies that fill in between have you tapping your feet and bouncing about real quick.

And then there is the video for This Must Be the Place. It's a five-minute collage of Miles' and friends (Lydia Hearst, Charlotte Kidd and Nick Hobbes) recreating scenes from the film American Psycho. Perhaps I have a predilection for this vid, given that I adore the film. To be sure, Miles' has captured the Patrick Bateman character masterfully. Showing the same skill he does in the Tom Cruise spoof, Miles paints a caricature of the wealthy shallow, sex, drug and consumption addicted yuppie that makes you wonder why he wasn't considered for the role in the first place. At the same time though, the vid has a charm quite its own. It is clearly a low budget project and yet, the music, professional execution, and tongue in cheek style  made sure I watched it over and over. Check it below...

Click here to download the Miles Fisher E.P.

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