Long a fixture on the New York City jazz and experimental scene RJ Miller launches his haunting solo debut with the multi-toned, trippy “Sunny Cove,” which was inspired by the beautiful location where it was composed in Blue Hill, Maine. The third track begins and is colored throughout with chiming bells; it takes the listener on a mysterious, seafaring journey guided by an “Underwater Traveler.” While the title of “Lights On” may seem to belie its overall gray mood subtle meandering hypnotic tones, the concept refers to the way the tune—one of the first Miller penned for the album—turned on the creative lights in his mind. The haunting nine minute closing track “3:05 AM” incorporates subtle drum touches to underscore its subtle mood swings; its title comes from the time of the morning RJ wrote the part that became the foundation for the track.

“I have always loved jazz and electronic music and I happened to have a cool sounding keyboard at my house so I started writing these songs based around keyboards and drums." After spending a good while crafting the tunes and sound in his mind the album was recorded in four days at Pete Rende’s studio in Brooklyn. It was recorded and mixed all in the analog domain to tape.


01. Sunny Cove
02. Three Part Dream
03. Underwater Traveller
04. Ronald's Rhythm
05. Lights On
06. Downstairs
07. 3:05 AM

RJ Miller - Drums, Keyboards, Analog Synthesizers.
Pete Rende - Analog Synthesizers on tracks 2, 5 and 7. Organ on track 4.
Adam Chilenski - Bass
Liz Kozak - Piano on track 3. Analog Synthesizers on track 7.
Leo Genovese - Accordion on track 3.

All Music Written By RJ Miller
Produced By RJ Miller and Pete Rende
Recorded and Mixed By Pete Rende
Mastered By Nate Wood

Cover Design By Espen Friberg (Yokoland)
Photography By Michelle Arcila

Press:

Bird is the Worm
"The result is an album of exquisite tranquility that brings a tiny heat, like an ember that burns brightly with no end....
Just a beautiful album… one that envelops the listener slowly, with the unhurried grace of a rising sun slowly blanketing the land with light and warmth."

Search and Restore
"It seems as though I can’t say much more about this album, as I truly feel that words somehow do violence to it, more than they do to most other things. There’s something so ineffably distinctive about its sound and I’ve been repeatedly struck by the subtleties that emerge from every subsequent listen, which are rich and seemingly infinite.... This is a record with little to prove and it is refreshingly confident in its ability to conjure powerful musical statements from minimal melodic ideas."

Mark F. Turner (AAJ Best of 2013)
"Electronic music comes in all sounds, colors, and textures, but drummer Ron Miller exploits the ambient side with chilled themes and moody soundscapes. The soul in the machine lies in the way Miller expertly juxtaposes his drum kit with piano, keyboards, and analog synthesizers through infectious melodies that move and groove. "

Jazz Special (DK)
"It's about finding a beat; a heart beat. The connection between father and son, past and future. That place, where genres don't matter, because the music plays on and just exists."