California-based singer/songwriter, guitarist, producer, and composer Blake Mills has announced his fourth studio album, Mutable Set, that will be released on May 8th of this year. Additionally, Mills released the album’s first single, “Vanishing Twin”; the song is slow and melancholic, as it reflects modern isolation in an ever connected world. Throughout the accompanying visuals, instruments are shown playing without anyone controlling the instruments themselves, further emphasizing the feeling of loneliness presented by the song. The powerful lyrics resonate even more today, as most of the world is currently self quarantining to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
“This record deals with an awareness of two things—people and experiences in life that are precious, and whatever waits down the moat for something to drop,” says Mills. “I’ve seen the phrase ‘mutable set’ used to describe theater backdrops and set props, things like that. And ‘mute’ might be one of the best musical terms ever invented. So ‘Mutable Set’ is a term that deals with anything that could change or be lost all together.”
Mills will be joined by a talented cast of musicians on the album; Aaron Embry of Elliot Smith, Edward Sharpe, and the Magnetic Zeros on keys, Sam Gendel of Vampire Weekend and Moses Sumney on saxophone, Rob Moose of Alabama Shakes and Bon Iver on strings, Abe Rounds of Meshell Ndegocello and Andrew Bird on drums, and Pino Palladino of The Who and D’Angelo on bass.will all be featured on Mutable Set.
Mills has enjoyed a widely successful career as a producer, co-writer and session musician, collaborating with artists of all different genres such as Fiona Apple, Alabama Shakes, John Legend, Sara Bareilles, Jay-Z, Laura Marling, Phoebe Bridgers, Randy Newman and Perfume Genius, among others. He was nominated for “Producer of the Year” at the Grammy Awards in both 2015 and 2017, and his producing on Alabama Shakes’ Sound & Color won the 2015 Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album.
Check out the cover art and track list for Mutable Set, and listen to Blake Mills’ “Vanishing Twin” below:
1. Never Forever
2. May Later
3. Eat My Dust
4. Money is the One True God
5. Summer All Over
6. Vanishing Twin
7. My Dear One
8. Farsickness
9. Mirror Box
10. Window Facing a Window
11. Off Grid
Photo Credit: Sharon Alagna
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