RHY
THAI MILK TEA
‘Thai Milk Tea’ is the latest single from Perth/Boorloo producer and songwriter, RHY. As an artist who has already connected with audiences internationally and, with his five-piece band, has established a reputation for bringing the party live, a lot is riding on this latest release.
…those who’ve got it are going to write songs like ‘Thai Milk Tea’ and RHY has definitely got it.
RHY has achieved the tender age of 24 years so, of course, ‘Thai Milk Tea’ is a love song. What else is there to write about when your whole life is ahead of you and you may just live for ever? But rewriting a story that’s been done a million times before doesn’t diminish in any way the absolute charm of what RHY has going on here. Opening with clattering drums that quickly settle into a polyrhythmic beat underscoring scratchy synths that herald in the song like a modern-day trumpet fanfare, ‘Thai Milk Tea’ is all understated promise from the get go.
Once the vocals kick in, RHY’s laconic just-behind-the-beat delivery is enough to make your ears tune out the rest of the world and listen intently. There’s a charm in RHY’s voice that draws you in for a one-on-one sit down with him. He makes you feel like you and he are the only two people in the room. In different circumstances, RHY could have played ‘Thai Milk Tea’ on an acoustic guitar, all Ed Sheeran-like, and people would have sat up and taken notice for a while, wondering if he’s next in line for stadium spots and pubs in his back yard. But for RHY, it seems, it’s the road less travelled that’s of greatest interest, so he’s loaded up the song with some neat production elements, punctuated it with stops and starts, dropping effortlessly from glitch-funk sunshine to nothing and back again. Sure this route is riskier, but it may well be what has people saying RHY’s name long after Ed Sheeran’s been taken down by the tabloids for being a one-trick pony.
‘Thai Milk Tea’ is a song deliberately written for long summer afternoons where everything is perfect and everything lasts for ever. What else are you going to do with your life when you’re 24? Well, those who’ve got it are going to write songs like ‘Thai Milk Tea’ and RHY has definitely got it.
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