cktrl, In Sound And Silence
In the afterglow of his debut album release, the Lewisham-born multi-instrumentalist, composer, and DJ reflects on a decade of musical experimentation.
Read the full story in Justsmile Issue 7, What We Carry Forward.
Photography Jessica Madavo
Styling Feranmi Eso
Text Dylan Green
Coat FERRARI. Pants SOLID HOMME. Shoes JOHN LOBB.
The cover of cktrl’s debut album spirit depicts the artist submerged in water, completely nude and blowing into a gleaming saxophone, surrounded by grayscale stillness. He appears pure, uninterrupted—afro spread around his head, eyes shut in concentration. It’s a serene and anticipatory image, bringing to mind the aquatic cover of Maxwell’s sophomore album Embrya, or saxophonist Grover Washington, Jr.’s Mister Magic before that.
It’s a suitable mood for the potent mix of jazz and classical that has powered the music of cktrl, born Bradley Miller, since his solo debut in 2020. The great Brazilian fashion photographer Rafael Pavarotti—a longtime friend of Miller’s—shot the cover. The pair discussed the idea on a walk in 2025, and when Pavarotti got around to mentioning the conditions of the concept, things became a touch more harrowing.
cktrl wears coat FENDI.
“As soon as he told me the plan, I was like, ‘Shit, shit, shitshitshit—I can’t swim!’” Miller recalls over Zoom, laughing. His manager sent over a formal brief, and instead of making a fuss, he tried to play it cool. “I trust my taste, but I also trust my friends because they make great visuals,” he tells me. “So I decided we were just gonna cap, innit. Like, everything’s fine. Just make sure certain man’s in the water, in case, y’know…”
On shoot day, there were lifeguards on deck in case things went south, but the process went as smoothly as possible, given the circumstances. “There were speakers in the tank, so I could hear everyone’s directions, asking me to move over, do this, try that. But they’re also asking me for more bubbles,” Miller explains. “I was trying to blow without extending my cheeks too much. I had to try and find composure. Put it this way: I had the best sleep of my life that night.”
Jacket and pants DOLCE AND GABBANA. Shoes JOHN LOBB.
That anecdote, as funny and slightly embarrassing as it may be, is emblematic of the spirit ethos. As a whole, the album is a stabilizing experience fit for a world overrun with chaos. Compositions like “kira” and lead single “balance” are minimal but aqueous, with saxophone, clarinet, and orchestral flourishes bobbing like buoys in the ocean or satellites in space. In the world of spirit, the palette is muted, bordering on ambient, but it all rings clear and true: The intentions to center and make peace echo through every delicate note.
A multi-instrumentalist, composer, and DJ, Miller was born and raised in Lewisham, a borough of South East London with a significant Caribbean population. He grew up in a large Montserratian-Jamaican family, and so music was all around him, in his living room and in the world outside. Particularly formative genres were revival, a restrained brand of reggae spiked with gospel, and blaring dancehall. Denis Rowe, cofounder of Saxon Studio International, lived in the area as a kind of local celebrity—and because he was also a family friend, the music at home was always jumping. Miller attributes the way he approaches recording and engineering music to what he heard early in his life. “Those frequencies had a massive impact on me,” he says. “In revival and roots reggae, they had minimal instruments and resources, but they made the music sound so big, like Jack Ruby [did with] Burning Spear. You’re just pushing frequencies to get that emotional, human response.”
Justsmile Issue 7 cover featuring cktrl. T-shirt and pants WALES BONNER. Bracelet CARTIER.
Read the rest of the story in Justsmile Issue 7, available to order here.
