Vinny Miller

The mercurial British singer-songwriter Vinny Miller first appeared under the alias Starry Smooth Hound, issuing three tracks on 4AD samplers in 1998: Anakin, Dust Distorts, and Kiddy's Got Four Fingers. Early on he worked with Laika’s Guy Fixsen, who applied experimental production touches to the cassettes Miller forwarded. After those initial pieces, however, Miller stayed on the label’s roster for five years without any further releases. He ended the quiet period in summer 2003 by issuing the limited-edition 7" single “Pigpen,” a noisy track that diverged sharply from his prior Starry Smooth Hound material. The next year he returned with the single “Breaking Out of Your Arms” and, at last, his debut album On the Block.