About
Miles Allen is a composer, singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist from the San Francisco Bay Area. His latest projects include a studio album, music and sound design for indie video game RATTUS, and ongoing covers with musicians all over the world. In addition, he currently teaches music theory, beginning keyboard, voice, and trumpet, as well as composition and electronic music (emphasis in music for games).
"Miles seemingly effortlessly creates a fantastically captivating and inventive blend of indie and prog. Perhaps it's called 'prindie'; who knows? But what I do know is that it's messy, carefree and real."
-Julianne Regan, Singer-Songwriter (All About Eve)
“[he has] an unquestionable talent with both musical and lyrical dimensions in [his] song writing…”
“What’s intriguing is [his] inclination to seek out little obscurities; odd melodic twists, or interesting and fresh ways of saying something with figurative language…”
“[He] bring[s] a certain crooner character to what is a creative take on two sub-genres of rock; surf and grunge.”
“[His] tendency for experimentation reminds me of early Beck, which may not be a bad thing – [their] brands have one thing strongly in common – music with strong identity.”
-Pete Brenard, Producer/Singer-Songwriter
“Miles is a talented...composer...His music has integrity; there are always viable musical ideas present in his compositions”
-Ilya Levinson, Composer
“Miles Allen exhibited a beautiful bass voice, fine musicianship and a great feeling for the style of pop standards from the 1940s and 50s when he studied voice with me at Columbia College Chicago. I have become acquainted with his compositions since then, and they are equally impressive in that they embody his acerbic humor and intelligence”
-Myron Myers, Vocalist
He began his music career as a trumpet player, and vocalist in various jazz ensembles. In 2017, his composition was featured in “Beauty in the Face of the Beast,” a multimedia concert at Rush University Medical Center featuring a live harpist, flutist, violist, and dancers. During his time in Chicago, Miles shared the stage with modern-day giants of jazz, Dave Douglas, Benny Green, John Irabagon, Russell Gunn, Endre Rice, and Wycliffe Gordon.
He composed and recorded the music for Shut Up the Punks!!!, a mini musical which was showcased at Manifest in downtown Chicago in 2018. The studio recordings were nominated for the 25th Annual Hokin Honors exhibition and put on display in the gallery.
In 2018, immediately after his undergrad, Miles moved to the UK for a master’s degree in Songwriting. It was here that he started a rock band of his own called Fish with Legs, with which he recorded the master tapes of an upcoming album.
He attended Q&A sessions with punk scholar, Lucy O’Brien and Celeste Bell, daughter of Polly Styrene of X-Ray Spex in order to write his dissertation, “Women in Post-Punk: Rock Music for Outsiders”. For an earlier article, “Has Indie Changed for the Better,” he conducted an interview with the co-founder of Sarah Records, Claire Wadd.
