Blake Mills & Pino Palladino release new single “Contour”

Blake Mills & Pino Palladino have released new Single "Contour"

Blake Mills & Pino Palladino have released new Single “Contour,” the track is off their Their forthcoming album album That Wasn’t A Dream, out August 22nd via New Deal/Impulse! Records. “Contour,” follows lead single “Taka,” which features drummer Chris Dave (D’Angelo, Adele, Robert Glasper). Palladino has collaborated D’Angelo to Nine Inch Nails, from Erykah Badu to John Mayer. Mills is one of today’s most sought-after producers and multi-instrumentalists, known for his work with Alabama Shakes, Bob Dylan, Fiona Apple, and Perfume Genius as well as his own acclaimed solo albums.

That Wasn’t a Dream was recorded over a two-month period in the legendary Studio A at Sound City Studios, the room Mills has helmed since 2018. These sessions pulled in collaborators old and new, most notably Sam Gendel, who performed throughout Notes With Attachments and contributed finishing touches for nearly every track on That Wasn’t a Dream.

That Wasn’t a Dream finds coherence through restraint. As Palladino explains, some of the compositions grew from harmonically dense ideas that were later reduced to the barest essentials. “It came to light, really, that if we could make something work with the least possible ingredients, space could become the centerpiece,” says Palladino.

It was also a chance to innovate; one early Palladino sketch, “What Is Wrong With You?,” was Mills’s first opportunity to experiment with the prototype of a new instrument, the fretless baritone sustainer guitar, which Mills helped luthier Duncan Price to develop in 2021, and has since been used on numerous productions, as well as live performances with Joni Mitchell.

“The fretless sustainer can sound almost like a cross between a woodwind, brass, and bowed string instrument,” says Mills. “It’s a tough instrument to control or define.” That undefinable sound, along with a playful approach to minimalism, set the tone for the rest of the album’s writing and recording sessions that would take place almost three years later.

Blake Mills & Pino Palladino
That Wasn’t A Dream
Track Listing
NEW DEAL/IMPULSE! RECORDS

Contour
Laugh In The Mouth Of The Lion
Somnambulista
Taka
What Is Wrong With You?
Heat Sink
That Was A Dream