Exclusive Premiere: Stream Kultures’ Uplifting New Single “Favorite Number”

By: Staff –

Cleveland-based singer-songwriter Kultures (aka Justin Miller) is back with his uplifting new single “Favorite Number”, which can be streamed exclusively via Aesthetic Magazine below.

In “Favorite Number”, an orchestra of electric guitar flurries, swirling synth patches, and ambient manipulated vocals propel an encouraging message to stay confident and follow your path no matter how difficult or confusing life may be.

Miller grew up with a guitar in his hands. He joined his first band at the age of 13 and began writing music shortly thereafter. Over the course of the next decade, he continued to grow as an artist, working on various projects and sharing the stage with bands including Moon Taxi, Jukebox the Ghost, Tall Heights, Grizfolk, The Used, Motion City Soundtrack, The Wonder Years, State Radio, and many more.

In 2015, Miller co-wrote, produced, and engineered an EP for his band Polars, followed by a full length release in 2019. Through this process, Miller dove deeper into the world of production and arrangement, developing a signature sound, defined by intricate layering and fine detail embedded in every song. He began writing for a wider array of instrumentation, including dynamic brass and string sections. Miller teamed up with collaborator, Etienne Massicotte, whose classical background helped bring this sound to life as the group went on to work with members of various local orchestras, including the world renowned Cleveland Orchestra.

For the next year, Miller spent countless hours writing new material and finding a new voice, his own, as this would be his first record as a lead vocalist. He recorded demos for a new collection of songs in his home studio from the ground up. Leaning on his background as a multi-instrumentalist, he tracked every instrument himself in order to develop an authentic sound that truly resonated from the inside out. He teamed up again with long-time collaborator Etienne Massicotte to begin fleshing out the blueprints for a full studio production. However, during the recording process Miller suffered a debilitating vocal injury, temporarily losing his voice altogether. This brought things to a halt as Miller spent the next 4 months receiving treatment while waiting for scarring to heal and inflammation to subside. After retraining and strengthening his voice, he was finally able to return to the vocal booth and put the finishing touches on the record. 

The 8 track, self-produced LP was mixed by Leon Taheny (Owen Pallett, Grizzly Bear) at Union Sound Company in Toronto, and is out June 4th.