Miles and Simone return with new single 'She And I' and announce festival performances and intimate shows

Melbourne alt-country folk and heart-breaker duet Miles and Simone are back with their latest sublime single ‘She and I’, accompanied by a run of live shows in Tasmania, Victoria, and New South Wales during July and August. The duo have been weaving lonesome ballads of times bygone with their restrained lullabies of impeccably matched harmonies and subtle arrangements together for years now, however, their latest track 'She and I' from their upcoming EP takes things in an exciting new direction.
 
Recorded with acclaimed producer Dan Luscombe (The Drones, Courtney Barnett), with a promise to draw out darkness and grit from the sweet and mournful heartbreakers, Simone Page Jones’ wistful and theatrical vocals alongside Miles O’Neil’s courteous charm as always, makes for the perfectly balanced blend of melancholy and nostalgia that has signified their sound for so long. ‘She And I’ was birthed on a backstory of happenstance when Miles discovered a battered old nylon-stringed classical guitar amongst boxes of old records behind the red velvet stage curtain of Melbourne’s Basement Discs record store.
 
“While we were waiting to go onstage, I spotted a small guitar behind the boxes of records.  I saw it was covered in the signatures of the many musicians who had performed on the Basement Discs stage. I tuned it up, started strumming and a song just came out, as if it was waiting behind the strings. I started singing “she and I would run like rolling rivers” and knew it was a keeper.” - Miles O'Neil
 
Miles and Simone enlisted Pete Luscombe (Paul Kelly & RockWiz) to provide the driving rhythm on an old snare drum, Dan Luscombe to work his magic on a slide guitar and Jules Pascoe (Jazz Party) to bring up the bottom end on his upright double bass, the outcome is a hollering freight train of a song, screaming down the line towards The Heartbreak Hotel.

She and I actually has a real story to its inception. It came into this world while Simone and I stood behind the red velvet curtains that frame the stage of Basement Discs record store in Melbourne. While we were waiting in the storeroom to go onstage, I spotted a small classical guitar wedged between boxes of records. Shifting things around, I pulled it clear of the boxes to see it was signed by all the many musicians that have come to play their songs upon the tiny, yet somewhat hallowed Basement Disc stage. I tuned it up and, as very occasionally seems to happen, a song just fell out of it as if it was stuck in there. I started singing “She and I would run like rolling rivers” and new it was a keeper. Usually I wake up to find moments like these were just tricks, the song turning out to be rubbish and going in the bin, but, after the gig, back at home, this one came together easy as a batch of scones and felt immediately like a shift in energy from previous songs I’d been writing for Miles & Simone; it felt bigger, as if it wasn’t content to be left alone on an acoustic guitar. We had some time booked in the studio with Dan Luscombe at the helm and this was the first song we recorded; live with Pete Luscombe driving the train rhythm on a very old snare drum and a beautiful pair of worn nylon drum brushes and Jules Pascoe bringing up the bottom end like only he can on the upright bass. Before we knew it, Simone and I had laid down our vocal parts and Dan was in the studio making everyone go a bit silent with amazing slide guitar on a new amp he’d just got the day before from Found Sound. Songs rarely come out in the studio sounding better than I could have hoped. I guess its unsurprising with musicians like that playing on it. Simone and I are really happy with it and we hope other people are too. It was fun to make, and to find hidden in an old nylon stringed guitar covered in songwriters signatures, hidden behind boxes and boxes of good records.

No strangers to the stage, Miles and Simone have shared them with revered local artists such as Clairy Browne & the Bangin’ Rackettes, Tinpan Orange and Harry James Angus amongst others. Familiar faces to the Australian festival circuit too, the pair has charmed audiences at the Melbourne International Arts Festival, Brisbane World Theatre Festival, Darwin Festival, Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Falls Festival, Mullum Music Festival, the famous Spiegeltent and FOPA.
 
Eager to show off their new lonesome lullabies and ballads, treating listeners to a sneak peak of their new EP due for release later this year, this July Miles and Simone will pack their suitcases and head off on a 12-date tour around the country playing festivals, headline shows and old town halls. They kick off their tour at Newport Folk Festival, then jump on a plane to Hobart to play Festival of Voices, heading straight from there to Bello Winter Music before returning to play their hometown launch at The Grace Darling as part of Leaps and Bounds Festival. Following that, they hit the highways of Victoria and New South Wales to play a string of other intimate shows including a headline performance at Golden Age Cinema in Sydney. With the support of Regional Arts Victoria, they are able to return to the old town halls in some of Victoria’s gorgeous country towns where they have spent the last few years wooing with their theatrical shows.
 
Expect two sublime voices, subtle melodies, romantic lyrics and hilarious banter.

Miles and Simone ‘She and I’ Single Tour Dates
Sunday 2 July - New Port Folk Festival
Newport Vic
 
Friday 7 July - Festival of Voices
Hobart Tas
 
Saturday and Sunday 8 & 9 July - Bello Winter Music
Bellingen NSW
 
Thursday 13 July - Leaps and Bounds Festival, The Grace Darling
Single Launch Melbourne VIC

Friday 14 July - Moira
Moira VIC
 
Saturday 15 July – Yarck
Yarck VIC
 
Sunday 16 July - The Theatre Royal
Castlemaine VIC
 
Thursday 20 July – The Gem
PBS FM, Acid Country OB, Leaps and Bounds, Melbourne VIC
 
Thursday 27 July - The Golden Age Cinema
Sydney NSW
 
Saturday 29 July – Balmoral
Balmoral NSW
 
Friday 4 August  - Major Toms
Kyneton VIC
 
Saturday 5 August - King Valley
 King Valley VIC

All tickets and show details available via website: milesandsimone.com/gigs