Miles Hewitt - Vainglory (2026) Hi-Res

The video for “Fortune and Her Orchestra,” the first single from Miles Hewitt’s second album, Vainglory, contains one of my favorite tropes – Sad-Guy Walking. And, because it’s a seven-minute video, he does a LOT of walking. But Hewitt has given himself (and us) a lot to think about on that walk. As a guy who painstakingly makes and produces his own music – in the studio, with other living, breathing musicians – he sees the crossroads we’re at. Plug-and-play tech makes it easier to make music. Some of it ends up being excellent. More of it ends up being…not good. And, still in its early stages, AI slop is starting to push musicians out of the studio entirely. This preemptive death knell for genuine art – and a plea for its survival – is where the Brooklyn-based Hewitt centers his record.

If we’re purely talking about musical depth, the first moments of “Fortune and Her Orchestra” (a title that Hewitt willfully nicked from a spammy online comment section) are more gorgeous than any AI-neutered instrumental burst could possibly provide – pedal steel from Jack McLoughlin (and what’s better for a soulful wander that a bit of mournful steel) join with synths, violin and organ to accompany Hewitt’s opening salvo – “Feed the void with dollars/Feed the dollars with death.” Hewitt also portrays a Nashville musician essentially forced to co-opt her talent to make those dollars at the expense of her creativity – “And though she sang for a supper/She did not get to choose/Deceived, still she could not refuse.” Grim? Sure. But if you’ve been to Lower Broadway, you’ll recognize the scene – a bunch of the most gifted musicians in the country, forced to sling some shitty Jason Aldean tune for the umpteenth time.

Hewitt plays a wide range of instruments (including any number of guitars and keyboards) on Vainglory, but it’s his voice that stands out the most. I’d characterize it as a more pensive, less rushed Barry Gibb, and it serves to punctuate his lyrics against even the deepest of the musical arrangements on the record, inviting the listener to lean a little closer. “Blackness Is the Road” is a dreamy acoustic-led number that ponders if we ever truly know the people in our lives – “In the leaving, feeling closer/In the staying, far/And in the dark, never/Seen for what you are.” “Throw Wide Your Window,” with a dirge-y opening minute that builds into a rejection of digital fakery – “Cast out this wicked art/That has seized my heart” – climaxes in a sigh of inevitability – “And the air raid sirens blow/Like there’s someplace to go.” But, even with all the bleakness, Hewitt finds time for some good ol’ fashioned storytelling. “Rock Me, Baby” is a 12-plus minute opus, with three distinct acts, about the type of musician we might see in our none-too-distant future; wandering the country, providing songs on an almost case-by-case basis – “But I’ve seen the golden loom that weaves the tune/And I’ve heard the silver song it played.” The song ebbs and flows, Hewitt’s vocals submerge and surface, but the message – that, in the post-capitalist coda that it seems we’re on the verge of becomes fully realized, it’s those brief moments of wonder – music, art, natural beauty, whatever it may be – that will be more valuable (and more rare) than gold. Hewiit is one of the artists consciously stockpiling those moments now – humanity, in spite of all effort to quell it.

Song I Can’t Wait to Hear Live: “Fortune and Her Orchestra” – Simply some of the most gorgeous music you’ll hear this year, and worth carrying forward into a future that rewards artistry even less than we do today.

Vainglory was produced by Miles Hewitt, engineered by Michael Coleman, Nate Mendelsohn and Katie Von Schleicher, mixed by D. James Goodwin and John Roland Miller and mastered by Goodwin. Songs written by Miles Hewitt. Musicians on the album include David Ball (cymbals), Brian Betancourt (bass guitar; upright bass), Jason Burger (drums, percussion, samples), David Christian (drums), Michael Coleman (piano, Wurlitzer, synthesizer), Julian Cubillos (bass, electric guitar), Miles Hewitt (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, synthesizers, piano, Hammond organ, Mellotron, Wurlitzer, white noise, cabasa), Shahzad Ismaily (bass), Jason Lilly (drums), Jack McLoughlin (pedal steel, electric guitar), Nate Mendelsohn (saxophone, synthesizers), John Miller (Digitakt, synthesizers), Sean Mullins (drums), Jake Sabinsky (electric guitar), Adelyn Strei (clarinet, flute), Rachel Sumner (omnichord), Katie Von Schleicher (synthesizers, vocals), Max Wareham (banjo), Asha Wells (vocals) and Kailey Zercher (violin).