XEN Miles — 1 February 2023 on Rocket Shop Radio Hour

XEN Miles joined host Tom Proctor on ‘Rocket Shop,’ Big Heavy World’s weekly local Vermont music radio hour on 105.9 FM The Radiator. Check out their newest release at https://open.spotify.com/album/7uDgEeocvNMjzJiRFexLFy

On Wednesday, February 1, Rocket Shop host Tom Proctor was joined by Xen Miles, a singer-songwriter based in Burlington, Vermont, for a night of groovy, soulful original songs.

The set was kicked off with “Pictures,” a slow and emotionally intense song reckoning with “the internal struggle of who I am, who I’ve become, how I feel about that… trying to find out if I will be ok,” according to Xen. The song features glorious, velveteen vocals, soaring and weaving between the airy, lush keyboard harmonies laid down by Jack, Xen’s bandmate and the only accompanist for Wednesday’s set. As the two musicians played, a contemplative stillness settled over the room, created by the arresting emotional depth characterizing much of Xen’s music.

Xen’s musical career stretches back to their childhood, when they began singing the national anthem at school events, often in front of hundreds of people. They were first able to become comfortable in the spotlight with the help of a second grade music teacher, who coached them in singing in front of people: “She started off by turning her chair around so her back was to me, and I’d sing to her back. And then she would slowly start to turn her chair around every time.. And that started the whole national anthem journey,” said Xen. 

Meanwhile, their original songwriting voice was emerging. “I first started writing songs about horses… I wrote this really heart wrenching song about a horse that had passed away, and was sitting at my piano, self taught, just messing around. I don’t know how old I was, but I was very young. I don’t remember the song at all at this point, but I think people were like, getting teary eyed, or they were like, ‘wow, you really have big feelings.’” This early venture into creatively expressing complex emotions would prove predictive of the great power and emotional resonance of the music they create in their adult life.

This quality is evident in Xen’s most recent EP, ‘Love, X,’ released in 2022. The project is the collaborative effort of Xen and producer Malcolm Francis, another Vermont-based artist. Most of the songs on this project were written in-studio, with Xen taking inspiration from existing instrumental tracks that Malcom had put together to craft original melodies, and lyrics rich with personal meaning. The result is a project which combines the exploratory and rich sounds of Malcolm’s studio production with Xen’s deeply human and soulful vocal style to create songs as emotionally stirring as they are texturally and rhythmically exciting.  

Coming up, Xen Miles will be releasing a remixed version of their recent EP, featuring the imaginative reworkings of various local DJs and producers. The project will be available by Valentine’s Day, and will be accessible on Spotify and other streaming platforms, along with ‘Love, X.’ For updates and more info, you can find Xen Miles on their Instagram page.

Text by Gideon Parker

Monochrome photo by James Lockridge