New York-based brother-sister duo Miles and Winter Donnelly – known professionally as Muo Duo – are back with their new single Somewhere & Nowhere.
Miles started studying composition at the prestigious Juilliard School whilst in high school, where he, in his words, “learned all the rules in order to know the perfect way to break them”. We love a bit of that.
Now an established singer, producer, songwriter, trumpeter, and award-winning film score composer, Miles takes inspiration from artists as wide-ranging as The Beatles and Tyler, The Creator in order to craft a unique, distinctive hip-hop-influenced indie pop sound for his work with Muo Duo.
Part MGMT, part Fleet Foxes, part Beach Boys, this new tune is an extremely intriguing amalgamation of styles. Lilting and listless, its charming, characterful, laid-back sound belies deeper, more conflicted lyrical content. Centred around the familiar feelings of romantic fall-out, it crystallises that awkward transitional moment that I’m sure we’ve all experienced. The duo explains: “(it) sits in between the push and pull of heartbreak. Do you fall into despair, or pick yourself up and move forward? Sometimes, the best place to go is “Somewhere & Nowhere”.
Miles is complemented beautifully by the dulcet tones of his 14-year-old sister, who, having found herself playing the role of young Elsa in Disney’s Broadway production of Frozen and appearing on the legendary Sesame Street as well as in the wildly successful Netflix series Manifest, eventually ended up working with her brother due to circumstances beyond their control.
They came together during the pandemic, when their family was forced to hole up for most of 2020 in a rural area of Vermont. Living a secluded life among the mountains, they found making music to be a great escape from the global fiasco and used it as a way to connect with people while being physically and emotionally isolated. They recorded their first songs in a make-shift sound booth in their bedroom, created by leaning two mattresses against each other, and the rest, as they say, is history.
From those humble, enforced beginnings grew a musical career that has resulted in thousands of listeners all over the world. Looks like they’ve just earned one more. Fall in line.
Written by Kinda Grizzly
