Blake Mills - Mutable Set Review
For an artist who is really more suited as a producer, Mills creates a meditative and beautiful piece of work.
If you’re unfamiliar with Blake Mills that’s because he typically works behind the scenes, having produced some of the arguably greatest albums of the last decade Mutable Set features Mills joined by an array of talented performers such as Aaron Embry (Elliot Smith, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros) on keys, Sam Gendel (Vampire Weekend, Moses Sumney) on saxophone, Rob Moose (Alabama Shakes, Bon Iver) on strings, Abe Rounds (Meshell Ndegocello, Andrew Bird) on drums and Pino Palladino (The Who, D’Angelo) on bass.
‘Never Forget’ is a beautifully warm acoustic track where you can really sense the influence of Mills’ recent songwriting sessions with Laura Marling. The production on this track, and pretty much all of Blake Mills’ work, has a hypnotic quality to it; I’m reminded of James Taylor through the finger-plucked guitars and wholesome vocals. ‘May Later’ is a more haunting track, evoking similar harmonies to those of classic Beatles’ tracks. As always with Blake Mills the production is phenomenal — especially on the strings. ‘Eat My Dust’ opens with twinkling keys and a cowboy-esque guitar element and utilises some experimental elements throughout its arrangement. However, the track falters from Mills’ vocals not being strong enough. This is especially apparent on the higher notes.
‘Money Is the One True God’ was the first track I heard from this album and I remember feeling impressed with it. The bass recalls ‘Soothing’ by Laura Marling. Vocally, Mills gives us his best Thom Yorke impression and he genuinely succeeds here. Lyrically, I love the vibe of this track: stating money is the one true god, a statement so blatant in anticapitalist message and so taken with the pervasive cultural preoccupation with money. On ‘Summer All Over’ you can tell Blake Mills takes influence from a lot of iconic artists and producers. Throughout this album I’m hearing elements of Radiohead/Nigel Godrich; but there’s also a perceivable Roger Waters influence. This influence in particular is especially apparent on this track, where the near-identical vocal sounds and structural similarities leave me feeling that this belongs just as much as a Pink Floyd B-side.
‘Vanishing Twin’ starts strong with reverberated pulsations and whistling guitars. By the time the chorus hits you’re transported to a deeply peaceful place. Lyrically apt, the word vanishing applies directly to the music and arrangement here as various parts pulsate and fade in and out of each other. Closing with an incredible guitar solo that showcases thick, distorted blues tones crunching over swooping strings and melodic bass, this track fills a solid place on the project.
With so much tension built towards the end of the previous track, ’My Dear One’ releases the tension and returns towards the Beatles-esque of prior songs. With palpably tender lyrics, this is another hypnotic addition to the record. Towards the middle, when you’re hearing what sounds like Mills stomping on the pedal of a piano to create this hypnotic atmosphere, this track becomes notably interesting. What follows is ‘Farsickness’: a more sombre track than others on the album. The piano has a heartbreaking quality at times with such complex chords resolving in such harmony.
‘Mirror Box’ is a peaceful, completely instrumental guitar ballad, which would probably suit a more subdued Tarantino soundtrack. The penultimate track, ‘Window Facing a Window’ sees Mills return to vocals; though at this stage they’re much more warmly welcome. He’s picked such beautiful instrumentation choices that his weaker vocals really don’t weigh this track down. It’s the subtlety of his mixing throughout this record that emphasises how great Mills is at crafting a song. Midway through ‘Window Facing a Window’ we hear haunting high octave keys, where at times the instrumentation is so delicate and ASMR-like the hairs on the back of your neck are bound to stand up.
The final track on this record ‘Off Grid’ is also the shortest, clocking in at 2:46. Here you really start to reflect on Mills’ record and his vocal delivery. Though he may not be an exceptional vocalist, he manages to deliver incredibly tender moments throughout the album, with this track as no exception. The chords he plays have an almost jazzy quality to them, especially with compliment from the stead drum shuffle.
Blake Mills really outdoes his previous efforts as a solo artist on this record, honing his talents as a vocalist and writing increasingly intricate songs to great effect. For an artist who is really more suited as a producer, Mills creates a meditative and beautiful piece of work here. Thematically, grandiose lyrics like those seen on ‘Money Is the One True God’, really work over the haunting musical backdrops he creates. Mutable Set is out on Mills New Deal label. Unfortunately though, it is Mills vocals here that let him down, though the effort is definitely admirable and the soundscapes are ultimately satisfying.
