Only a few days ago the duo Robin Hannibal and Mike Milosh, which are the brilliant musical heads they stay behind the band name, released their debut album Woman. Already with the first two published tracks The Fall and Open, RHYE made quite a splash, because no one really knew who was behind the soulful voice or the band in general. After the secret was disclosed Hannibal and Milosh precisely not come into the spotlight, they rather let their music speak for itself. That was the feeling we could hear and feel, when we listen to the remarkable debut record and when we could see these guys live on the stage on one of these rare occasions.
On this evening you didn’t come to a concert to dance, quite the opposite. You come to sit down and listen to the music, whereby the audience was restricted to a lower number. Thereout arose a quiet and special atmosphere and everybody waited curiously that the band enters the stage. For the live performances the two piece of RHYE catches a backstop of four other band members. They were supported by bass, drums, a violin, a string bass and in some songs by a trombone, which was played by the string bass player – and whenever that happened it was clearly a little highlight of the concert.
The waiting had an end when Mike Milosh entered the stage dipped in red light after a small intro of the band. And when he sang the first lines, a tiny whispering went through the audience. It seemed that a part of the listeners only realized in exactly this moment, that a man sings these beautiful and soulful songs. On the other hand it was simple breathtaking when the music got in touch with you. The red light of the location underlines the aura of eroticism floating through the songs. But during some songs you was on the horns of a dilemma, because songs like Hunger or The Fall were made for smooth and sexy dance moves.
The voice of Mike Milosh bewitched the audience from first to last and it seemed that the band obviously felt comfortable. They all were in a playful mood and they show how intimate and energizing music can be. Especially when the music got the highest priority. Although the band always claims that the identity-hiding thing is not a big concept, it is one that clearly works. We thought about taking photos but, well, why ruining everything? We’d rather join this play with identities and expectations – it’s easy ’cause the music is just to tempting. After short of an hour RHYE played their last song and left a magical impression. We hope these two guys come back very soon, because their songs long for something more. At the end we were left with wanting more. And we can’t think of any better effect a live concert can create.
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