#164: Blake Mills x Justin Daashuur Hopkins - "Mutable Set"
https://www.patreon.com/artistdecoded
About Blake: Blake Mills is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, composer, producer, and owner of “Record Collection” and a Grammy Award-winning artist based in California.
Mills has performed on over two hundred recordings, released four solo records, and worked with artists such as Lana Del Rey, Fiona Apple, and Bob Dylan.
Playing as both a session guitarist and composing his own material, Mills meticulously masters both the abstract and intentionality of multiple instruments and seeks to explore the sounds they each have to offer.
After working with artists such as Fiona Apple, and Andrew Bird, Mills revisited the studio and developed the sounds and resonant textures that became “Mutable Set” - a collection of eleven songs that focus on the dissonance of modern life.
Topics Discussed In This Episode:
- The origin of the name of his new record “Mutable Set”
- Collaborating and experimenting with Perfume Genius on his latest record, “Set My Heart On Fire Immediately”
- The dissonance of being an exploratory musician vs. a stagnant one, and how exploring a specific instrument’s unique tones and characteristics lead to artistic fulfillment
- The differences between personal work versus client work
- “There is an art in giving direction.”
- Blake reflects on his evolution as a musician, and how the limitation and exploration of particular instruments have expanded his cognitive and musical sphere
- Record production being a “mysterious role” because you are attempting to fill in the gaps creatively and/or logistically
- The process of sitting with a song, and allowing it to transfigure and mature; sometimes for years on end in order for the song's meaning to evoke a desired reaction