Sometimes a song just stands out. Hold The Phone by relative newcomer Tor Miller is one of those. It’s a ballad that goes places. First there’s the vocal. It’s that little bit different. When it stretches it has a gravel like scratchiness to it that enhances its emotional punch with rawness. Then there’s the piano, an instrument that seemed to belong to some of the older greats like Elton John and Billy Joel before Tom Odell had a decent go at bringing it back. On Hold The Phone Miller takes flight with the instrument. It’s potent stuff, old fashioned for sure, but undeniably impressive. We could imagine this New Yorker singing in the corner of a dimly lit late night café, or even more likely, a church backed by a big gospel choir. OK, actually we've already seen him play in a church (here last June - a brief mention in the comments section then) just without the choir. There's also a sense of theatricality about his voice - maybe one day he'll end up doing musicals.
His other two songs on his Soundcloud, Headlights and Go, have already picked up online attention, including some blog love, and his iPhone-recorded version of Hold The Phone has been featured as a Next Hype track on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show last year. He releases an EP on February 2nd. Until then, be wowed by his music on Breaking More Waves.
Tor Miller - Hold The Phone
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