Ricky Montgomery

Ricky Montgomery's music was ahead of its time — literally. Four years after the release of his debut album, and a decade after he wrote some of it, the Los Angeles native's indie-pop has been a balm in the midst of a heavy time, comforting listeners with warm melodies and relatable lyrics. It all started in July of 2020, when a pair of singles from 2016's Montgomery Ricky — the gently swaying "Mr Loverman" and string-soaked stunner "Line Without a Hook" — took off on TikTok. "I think because we had a really traumatizing year, these songs kind of found a moment," Montgomery says. "Because they're all, in their own way, about traumas in my life."

Now, with a fan base that's all caught up, Montgomery is sitting on a trove of new music built on this now-familiar foundation. He balances melancholy with a touch of sweet humor and loads of humanity. It's no wonder these songs have racked up more than 210M streams so far, landing simultaneously on the Spotify 200 and Spotify Viral 50 charts — a feat few artists can claim — with over 50 entries worldwide. As of early 2021, Montgomery's catalog was picking up 15M global streams weekly.

The new album “Rick” is out everywhere on September 29, 2023.

The story of Miloe begins in the pews of a church in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where Bobby Kabeya's family would congregate every Sunday was a place where community and rhythm entwined. Every week as parents sang in the choir, Kabeya remained transfixed by the percussion section's ability to keep the entire congregation on its feet.

The sonic imprint of those days in the Congo stayed palpable when the Kabeyas made the 7000 mile journey to Minneapolis to join their father, who had been granted asylum three years prior. Suddenly dropped into the land of such punk legacies as Husker Dü, The Replacements, and Soul Asylum and Prince, Bobby's musical destiny had perhaps unwittingly been cut out for him. Almost immediately he joined his high school band as a percussionist, fashioning its utility closet as a makeshift practice space for the first iterations of his own band to jam out. Midway through high school, he began producing his own material as Miloe, a name cheekily abstracted from Coldplay's indie-pop behemoth Mylo Xyloto.

While working his way through the Twin Cities' basement show circuit, Kabeya chipped away at Miloe's debut EP, releasing a handful of iterations of the low-fi project before landing on a final version in 2019. The following year, a marathon three-day studio session with [Jake] Luppen [of Hippo Campus] transformed a handful of demos Kabeya had stashed away into the Greenhouse EP, which was eventually released in October 2020. The project showcased a sunnier, pop-oriented side to Miloe. He nabbed a hit with lead single "Winona," which was later gilded with vocals from Jamila Woods and Vagabon on a 2021 remix.

His most recent release, gaps, can be found on all streaming platforms and is available for purchase at store.miloemusic.com