Mikahl Anthony reveals details of his anxiously awaited debut LP, MUSE. Hailing from the West side of St. Louis, Missouri, Mikahl Anthony’s sonic roots spread far across the global Alt-Soul / Hip-Hop scene. As a highly sought-after multidisciplinary artist, he has collaborated with the likes of Chance The Rapper, Mick Jenkins, Joey Purp, and Smino, as well as being a founding member of Chicago’s THEMpeople collective. Additionally, he’s teamed up with Via Rosa (of the soulful electro Duo Drama) on The Great Depression EP, as well as being featured on Lance SKiiwalker’s debut, among many more. He now prepares to unveil his masterful full-length debut, MUSE, via Belgium’s vaunted powerhouse R&S Records.
Attempting to put Anthony in a box is futile. He has a hand on just about everything that orbits his limitless creativity. The double single “Space Blue/Deep Ain’t It” showcases the artist’s jazzy tendencies while exploring his vulnerable songwriting prowess. “Space Blue” creates an atmosphere of subtle colors and soaring harmonies. The space-aged ballad toys with ambiance while employing neo-soul-style vocals to find a middle ground between modern tropes and futuristic tendencies. “Deep Ain’t It” features a more full arrangement. The spurts of brass accent the warping vocal melodies like the final stroke of a paintbrush on a mural. A drum pattern kicks in that rounds out the instrumental. These two songs introduce us to Mikahl Anthony. He uses his realities to create otherworldly sonics that reshape modern soul into a spacious and all-encompassing sound he can call his own.
“‘Space Blue’ was written when I just got out of a relationship. It has two layers – okay, maybe three, and outside of the relationship, it represents what music is about, like the first lyrics say, ‘Edge of insanity, Woes of humanity…..’ explains Anthony on the new single. “Considering both of us were living through a dark moment, and both of us were over the world but often used our connection to ground us. We were both at one point ‘living on the edge of insanity, the woes of humanity…’ The record itself was therapy… because being IMO wasn’t ‘it’… I had to write it out.”
“The ‘Deep Aint It’ is how you serendipitously connect two people when you don’t actually want to deal with them. But God brought you to these people, whoever that is, whether they’re up there or down there, something of a higher existence brought you to these people,” continues the artist on the second half of the single. “On a musical level, I recall thinking, ‘How could we create the feeling of Marvin Gaye?’… it’s impossible to be him, but the emotion behind the lyrics/music was. On a spiritual level, it’s like a deep painting. Lastly… the record is about having to confess with my lover that I had a child. She never knew.”
