‘That Wasn’t a Dream’ is out August 22nd on New Deal / Impulse! Records. Watch a video for the lead single Taka!

They’re back… Two of our all-time favorite musicians, guitarist/producer Blake Mills and bassist Pino Palladino have a new collaborative album out August 22nd on New Deal / Impulse! Records. Followers of In Sheep’s Clothing will surely remember the duo’s critically-acclaimed 2021 debut album Notes from Attachments, which was accompanied by a live EP released on our label In Sheep’s Clothing Hi-Fi Selects (second pressing is available now). A fusion of West African traditional music, Cuban rhythms, jazz, funk, and folk, the duo’s debut presented a unified sound blending the worlds of two world-class musicians completely in tune with one another.

That Wasn’t a Dream is set to be another step forward in the duo’s ever-evolving musical chemistry. It’s insane to be saying this, but on first listen, it seems like Palladino and Mills have both learned some new tricks since their last album. Palladino has further developed a sort of layered compositional approach with multiple fretted + fretless basses going at once, sometimes panned to each side and at other times combined texturally for a deeper sound, while Mills has introduced a new instrument that features throughout: the fretless baritone sustainer guitar, which sounds completely otherworldly. Once again, contemporary saxophone innovator Sam Gendel puts his singular touch on nearly all the tracks.

“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. Though ultimately, this record feels like a deepening of the core relationship between Palladino and Mills.

If Notes With Attachments was about creating cohesion out of layered spontaneity, 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.”

Pino and Blake will perform at The Ford on September 26th. Tickets available now.

Revisit our interview with Palladino, Mills, and Gendel: https://insheepsclothinghifi.com/in-conversation-pino-blake-sam/