Million Miles Crafts a Sultry Reimagining of Arctic Monkeys’ “Do I Wanna Know?” (premiere)

Since Sophie Baudry, the voice behind Million Miles, first let the voluptuous warmth of her vocals scintillate audiences with singles “Ice Cream & Cigarettes” and “Honey”, she’s been growing into her fine blend of folk, blues, and pop. As her project name suggests, Baudry is nothing short of a contemporary troubadour, living a nomadic, musical life that has taken her from Paris to Boston, to New York, London, and Nashville. While she considers London to be her long-time home, it’s in Music City where she laid out the groundwork for a myriad of recent Million Miles productions.

Among the latest is Million Miles’ take on Arctic Monkeys’ “Do I Wanna Know”. Stripping back the drone of the original arrangement’s brooding electric base, Baudry keeps its ominous tone while providing it with a more fluid acoustic backdrop. It offers listeners a window into Baudry’s mind as a re-arranger, having taken what has originally given the piece life and expanding on it sideways. Borne of a respect for its original artists, the Million Miles take doesn’t reinvent the wheel so much as it accentuates it with a generous amount of its own flair, making for a revitalizing take on the tune that showcases Baudry’s artistic sensibilities. She saunters amidst the blues in this imaginative acoustic reimagining.

Baudry tells PopMatters, “I have loved this song since it came out. I heard Arctic Monkeys for the first time years ago at one of their gigs in London, on a date, which sounds great but isn’t so ideal from a guys’ perspective, as he will inevitably compete with Alex Turner. Never saw my date again but have been a fan of them since then.”