Fresh off receiving a Grammy nomination for ‘Best Remixed Recording’ via the remix of ‘SWIM’ by US producer ford., Australian artist Mild Minds has delivered his new single ‘WALLS’, featuring vocalist Boats.
Melding emotion-tinged ambient electronica with Boats’ warm vocals, ‘WALLS’ is a powerful one-half political, one-half personal track that melds elements of UK Garage and ambient electronica.
Listen 'WALLS' :
says Mild Minds. “Boats wanted the message to be somewhat political, a nod to the issues happening at the American border, whilst I wanted to reference the more internal and interpersonal walls we build every day”, he added.
Boats explained further, “Walls have been built and those same walls have been brought down. It’s important to remember that people’s desire will always win out over state or forced control – if there is a significant will. I think a lot of people forget or simply don’t respect the power of protest”. The relationship between Mild Minds and Boats is one that runs deep as Blake (Boats) explains, “Ben’s been a friend for a long time, I’ve always wanted to collaborate on something with him. Whilst our own music illuminates different lights it felt right to blend them on this one”.
For the release of their brand new single, we had the chance to meet Benjamin David — aka Mild Minds — for a few questions. All is below, enjoy!
Hey Ben, such a pleasure to have you! So, could you introduce Mild Minds in a few words?
Mild Minds is a fairly new project for me, it was born out of the excitement of making music without expectations.
We’ve just picked your last gem ‘WALLS’. Could you share an anecdote about it?
Blake (Boats) and I were discussing the state of the world around the time I played him the instrumental demo. He was deliberating the political side, he’s quite sympathetic with the US and Australia immigration situation and also a little anti-establishment. I was feeling quite worked up about the divisiveness on a more personal social level, so we managed to tell both stories within this song. We also wanted the vocal to feel powerful, like a wall of sound to get our messages across.
You’re always experimenting new sounds. Is it important for you not to stick in just one genre?
I think the quicker an artist can find their own sound the better. So I’ve always felt like bringing multiple genres together is one way to do that.
Now that you have unveiled your brand new single and album, what is in store now for Mild Minds’ European fans? Maybe a Tour?
I would love to come over soon, hopefully the album will generate enough interest for me to tour later this year. Other than that I’ll be working on a new album which I’m really excited about.
Finally, can you share five records that you can’t get enough of right now?
Most of these are singles :
- Otherline – Hates me
- O’Flynn – Aletheia
- Juno Mamba – Flicker
- Roy Blues – Pyramid
- Lawrence Heart – Dansa
Be sure to keep connected as Mild Minds’ debut album ‘MOOD’ is out 13th March!