Miles Brown

Miles Brown (born 4 January 1978) is an Australian theremin player, composer, multi-instrumentalist, producer, music curator and sound artist. Best known for his work with Australian instrumental electronic act The Night Terrors, Brown has also performed with Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, Goblin, Black Mountain, Mick Harvey, Alexander Hacke, Danielle de Picciotto, Bardo Pond, Heirs and The Narcoleptor.

Biography

Brown was born in Hobart, Tasmania, and developed his practice in the experimental art rock scene of Melbourne. He is a student of Russian theremin virtuosa Lydia Kavina, The Night Terrors have released four albums and have toured with Hawkwind, Goblin, Melt-Banana, Serena-Maneesh and Black Mountain. The Night Terrors are often described as horror film soundtrack music.

Brown has also worked with Australian experimental industrial band Heirs, Primordial and contributing to the records Fowl (2010) and Hunter (2011).

In May 2014, Brown was commissioned by the City of Melbourne to compose an album of music for the Melbourne Town Hall's Grand pipe organ, the largest grand romantic organ in the Southern Hemisphere. Pavor Nocturnus: Composition for Grand Organ, Theremin, Electronics and Percussion was performed by The Night Terrors, recorded on Friday the 13th of July and launched on Halloween 31 October 2014. The album was released by the label Twisted Nerve Australia, a joint imprint between Dual Planet and UK producer / music archivist Andy Votel. / Mondo

Brown’s debut solo album, Séance Fiction, was released in 2015 on Death Waltz and It Records. His solo material explores the theremin and analogue synthesiser in the realms of dark wave, gothic disco and cosmic electronics.

In 2019, Brown debuted The Narcoleptor – his new experimental collaboration with classical harpist and vocalist Mary Doumany. The Narcoleptor's debut EP was released that year on Nosferatunes Records.

Brown's sophomore solo album, The Gateway, was released by Death Waltz in 2020 to celebrate with the 100th anniversary of the theremin. The Gateway features a contemporary expansion of the classic theremin sound in the style of 'gothic sci-fi techno'. Brown plays the Moog Etherwave Pro theremin, employing both its familiar heterodyne voicing and controlling analogue synthesisers via CV.

In 2021, The Narcoleptor released their debut LP Transmogrification on Nosferatunes. The album explores the microtonal capacities of theremin, analogue electronics, post-Celtic lever harp and voice.

In 2023, The Night Terrors reunited to release their fourth album, Hypnotica: Composition for Theremin and Electronic Music Synthesizer, on Disdain Records. A departure from their previous work, this album focuses on the unique emotional capabilities of theremin in an ethereal electronic darkwave context.

Brown played theremin on the soundtrack to Australian supernatural horror film Late Night with the Devil (2023), written and directed by Colin and Cameron Cairnes, starring David Dastmalchian.

Discography

Solo

2020: The Gateway – Death Waltz Originals 2019: Shudder Speed (single) – Nosferatunes 2015: Séance Fiction – Death Waltz Originals / Mondo / It Records 2014: Electrics (single) – It Records

The Night Terrors 2023: Hypnotica: Composition for Theremin and Electronic Music Synthesizer - Disdain Records 2014: Pavor Nocturnus: Composition for Grand Organ, Theremin, Electronics and Percussion – Twisted Nerve Australia 2014: Spiral Vortex – Homeless 2012: Monster / Lasers For Eyes (12" EP) – OSCL / Seed Records 2009: Back To Zero – Exo / Trendkill / Homeless 2003: Lightless – Unstable Ape Records 2002: The Night Terrors – Unstable Ape Records

The Narcoleptor 2021: Transmogrification LP – Nosferatunes 2019: The Narcoleptor 12" EP – Nosferatunes

Studio collaborations

2022: Grace Cummings – 'Fly A Kite' – Storm Queen - ATO Records 2019: Black Lung – 'NXIVM II' – NXIVM – Ant-Zen 2019: Jess Ribeiro w/ Mick Harvey – Wildflowers – Remote Control 2019: Cat Hope / Monash Art Ensemble 'The Dark Hip Falls' – Here Now Hear – FMR Records 2013: Sankt Otten – 'Mach bitte, dass es leiser wird' – Messias Maschine – Denovali 2011: Antoni Maiovvi – 'Murderfunk Night Terrors Remix' –Trial By Bullet – Seed Records 2011: Heirs – Hunter – Denovali / OSCL 2010: Heirs – Fowl – Denovali 2009: Little Birdy – Confetti – Universal Music

Film scores 2019: Volatilis (with The Narcoleptor) directed by Jenna Eriksen 2016: Dark Whispers – Volume 1 (anthology), segment: Watch Me, directed by Briony Kidd 2015: Our Extra Sensory Selves, directed by Allison Gibbs – Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow, UK 2015: Insomnolence, directed by Kiefer Findlow

Live scores 2023: The Narcoleptor - Nosferatu – Eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922), directed by F. W. Murnau - Monster Fest, Melbourne 2017: Crossing – with Unconscious Collective, House of Vnholy, J. P. Shilo, Alexander Hacke and Danielle de Picciotto, Dark Mofo, Tasmania. 2017: RE(PURPOSE): THE MVMNT – with Natalie Abbott, Dancehouse (Melbourne) 2015: Miles Brown & Drill Folly – The Seashell and the Clergyman, directed by Germaine Dulac – Fabrica Gallery, Brighton, UK

Videos "Shudder Speed" single (2019), directed by Geoffrey O'Connor "I (excerpt)" from The Narcoleptor EP (2019), directed by Jenna Eriksen "Feeder" from Séance Fiction (2015), directed by Agostino Soldati "Apparition" from Séance Fiction (2015), directed by Agostino Soldati "Megafauna" from The Night Terrors – Pavor Nocturnus: Composition for Grand Organ, Theremin, Electronics and Percussion (2014), directed by Agostino Soldati "Hunter" from Heirs – Hunter (2012), directed by Brent Stegeman and Damian Coward