Following on the mellow buzz generated on their 2015 debut album, Timeline, The Mild High Club returns with their second full-length, Skiptracing, which is due out August 26th.
Lead singer Alex Brettin's musical trajectory has been pretty interesting; he grew up playing and studying jazz, got signed to seminal hip-hop leaning label Stones Throw, and now has made two well-crafted psych-pop albums. Skiptracing is a sun-kissed and jazzy sonic landscape for 70s-era summer days in LA. Brettin embeds funky and super smooth soul beats throughout the new album's tracks and gets particularly groovy on title track "Skiptracing," with a heightened thematic aspect - told further with the track's new video.
The video, which Brettin shot completely on a Super 8 film camera, is only one aspect of the French New Wave aesthetic he's taken with the whole album. When asked about the album's overarching storyline, Brettin says, "the album can best be described as a story about a private investigator attempting to trace the steps of the sound and the spirit of American music." Since Timeline, Brettin's perspective has shifted in the sense that he's became more self-aware of musical tropes and clichés, making Skiptracing a reflection of Brettin delving deeper into his sound.
Watch the new video below.
Skiptracing album artwork:
