Rhye at The Church – Culture Collide Festival

Los Angeles – The delicacy of Mike Milosh’s vocals and the sensuality that dripped from every lyric had more than few females in a bit of a carnal trance. As spontaneous make out sessions broke out, along with some church friendly groping, Rhye’s bedroom soliloquies had found its perfect venue.

Outside was a different story. Many Culture Collide goers stood helplessly in a line that barely budged for the better part of an hour. Levi’s, the show’s sponsor, seemed to be the main shot caller as they had VIPs to please thus severely limiting general admission. It took sneaking in to bypass the Levi brigade as they handed out special wristbands to those worthy of being on their list. The rest were turned away.

Once inside, the tiny Methodist church was the intimate setting for music that is probably in its best use while in between the sheets. Odd yet appropriate, the acoustics of the room beautifully enriched the soft, sultry sex tracks and proved that a house of the holy can double as a lust filled den if need be.

“3 Days,” a track rooted in the passion-filled pleasures of a three-day sexcapade, displayed Rhye’s refinement in arrangements. The once playful sexiness of the hip swaying song was transformed into a lush sounding slow dance. The cello and violin adding to the aura of sexual energy the group can’t help, but emanate.

About seven months earlier at a South By Southwest showcase, the group was working to find its live identity. Buffalo Billiards was clumsily selected to be among the first venues where Rhye performed. The bar noise drowned out Milosh’s angelic voice and the music felt out of place. That experience was probably why Milosh gushed at being able to perform in such a small place.

Rhye, a once duo comprised of Milosh and Danish instrumentalist Robin Hannibal, now has six members. It is these additions that round out the elements needed to really give the songs a bigger, livelier feel as opposed to the one given in the group’s heavily programmed debut, Woman.

It’s during “Shed Some Blood” where you can see how far they’ve come as a unit. The funky bass line that would make the 70’s blush was complimented by the violin mirroring the low end’s melody. The cellist pulled double duty as she brought out the trombone in “Last Dance” showing the range of musicianship across the band.

The amount of oohs and ahhs after anything Milosh said between songs was met with genuine sincerity. It was “The Fall” though that had to room swooning. Couples took full advantage of the PDA anthem and pulled each other close. Even when the song was slowed to half speed it still retained its inherit silkiness. Rhye may need to book a church tour, but given the dozens of pissed off people stuck outside the venues will only increase in size.

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Ian Joulain

Somewhere between Sublime’s 40oz. to Freedom and Dr. Dre’s The Chronic something clicked inside a young Ian Joulain’s mind. His love for music had taken root and the only way to satiate this newfound passion was mass consumption of any and all genres. While gravitating toward punk rock, hip-hop, and jazz he discovered his distaste for pop-country, but blames that mostly on the excess of tractor and NASCAR mentions in the genre’s lyrics. That said, Joulain has never met a drink that was too stiff or a beach that he didn't like. He hopes to one day hug a koala and would love to ask Greg Ginn why he’s such a dick.