“We tend to get pretty caught up in the moment on stage” reveals Bristol, England pianist / programmer / chanteuse Hazel Mills. “I’ve heard a couple of crazy tales of goings-on at my shows…but a girl never tells! What happens on tour stays on tour.”
Hazel Mills’ chamber pop bow is entitled Butterfly simply because it had to be called something. A marriage of subtle electronic wizardry and a traditional bass/guitar/drums line-up, the five track extended player (sort of an oddity in the digital age) was produced by her guitarist Tim Allen. Intrigued by Allen’s talent for conjuring unique guitar textures and the ability to transform random sounds in beautiful structures (think Eno meets Kate Bush), the role between knob-twiddler and artist was often blurred during the recording sessions. “Tim encouraged me to write freely and push my creative boundaries,” she notes. “It’s now becoming more like a collaborative project.”
Combining their collective yen for experimentalism - they cite Queen Adreena, Radiohead, and 20th Century composers such as Steve Reich and Morton Feldman among their influences, Mills ruminates over the art of merging performance and programming in the studio.
“My background is in performance, so the live element of making a recording has always been important to me. There are some great live takes on Butterfly - but at the same time we were constantly processing and manipulating, using Pro Tools to splice up anything and everything then shoving it through FX pedals, modular synthesizers, and soft-ware instruments.”
With the jazz trappings of “Give Away,” the bass ‘n’ drum-fueled “Insomnia” and the skittering rhythms which define “Freestander” Butterfly, on paper, would seem to be a hodge-podge. However the rock steady rhythm section of bassist Chris Wakeling and drummer James Hester provide the necessary foundation with a sense of adventure to match Mills and Allen. “We knew we had to find people that could cope with the more technical aspects of the ideas Tim and I were having,” explains Mills. “At the same time, we still required musicians to bring feeling and personality - a kind of Hendrix-like hybrid of passion and technique. We clicked together instantly.”
Mills and company plan a second EP after they participate in a project with Roxy Music sax man Andy Mackay dubbed Andy The Metaphors. Information on this endeavor will be forthcoming (early reports from sources describe the project as “uneasy listening,”) as for now, Mills is intrigued with the possibilities of Butterfly.
“Because of the convenience of tiny MP3 players, people can listen wherever they are in small bursts…hence the importance of individual tracks. But right now, a ‘record’ has become more like an advert for a gig, which will hopefully help bring performance to the foreground and mean that more great musicians will get recognition.”
--Tom Semioli
Hazel Mills’ debut EP Butterfly is out now on X Press Records.
Hazel Mills Myspace
