Miles and Simone

Operatic bombshell Simone Page Jones and multi-instrumentalist Miles O’Neil  pare it all back to bare indie roots with sweet and lonesome duets, old country heartbreakers, and original songs with sparse, soulful guitar and banjo pluckin’.

Just a little country, straight from the heart.

Simone (The LoveBirds) and Miles (The Suitcase Royale) are dear friends and have been for quite some time. In the summer months of last year they found themselves on many an afternoon drinking gin and singing lonesome duets in the backyard. As the months got colder they left the backyard and began recording the songs in Miles’ spare room studio.

They eventually put a rough mix of the album into the hands of Darren Hanlon when he took a loan of Miles’ wonky old piano. Hanlon liked the songs so much he took them to Portland, Oregon to be mixed by renowned engineer Adam Selzer (She and Him, M. Ward, Jolie Holland) at the famed Type Foundry Studios. As well as that, Darren Hanlon recruited a handful of talented Portland musicians to play on the record.

The result is a work of quiet brilliance. Eleven songs of sparse acoustic duets subtly augmented by an old piano, pedal steel and the plunk of a banjo. Set in the folk/country tradition and maintaining at their core an Australian feel both in the lyrics and laconic style, the songs are straight from the heart and tell tales of the things that were, the things that weren’t and everything in between.

Miles is a musician, actor and founding member of internationally renowned Junkyard band and performance group The Suitcase Royale. Simone  is an opera singer, cabaret star and creator of the critically acclaimed cabarets The Lovebirds.

Duration: 60mins