Dave Miller

Combining major stints in both New York City and Chicago and numerous tours abroad, Dave Miller has cultivated a truly unique, exciting, and inviting approach to songwriting, improvisation, and the guitar. After releasing three albums to wide acclaim with his experimental rock band, Algernon (Cuneiform Records), Miller has once again redefined his parameters and formed Old Door Phantoms with some of the most creative musical minds in Chicago, yielding fascinating results. This time around, Miller has drawn influence from the elegant melodicism of The Beatles, the psychedelic folk of Neil Young and Crazy Horse, and the raw power and improvisational spirit of guitarists Link Wray, Gabor Szabo, and Charlie Christian. The music, although fresh, forward thinking, and avant garde, is grounded in the art of classic songwriting. The melodies linger and the sounds are warm. The songs play out as mind-expanding textures, but always with an air of compassion and familiarity. Tracked live at Steve Albini's famed studio, Electrical Audio, the album has the sound and feel of being in the same room as the band. At times, this off the cuff quality to the recordings recalls the instrumental swagger of The Band or Booker T the MGs, while juxtaposing this element with the pulsing experimentalism of Sonic Youth and ambient textures of Brian Eno.