Mild High Club - Timeline (2015)

Mild High Club is the home for the musical output of Alexander Brettin, a jazz-schooled musician transplanted from the Midwest to LA. The Club is due to release the debut album Timeline on Circle Star Records, the new imprint of Stones Throw Records. Recording with a Fostex 4-track cassette recorder, Macbook, 12-string electric guitar, portasound keyboard, bass, drum machine, software instruments "and whatever was lying around", Brettin began working on Timeline in 2012. In addition to the pure pop of singer-songwriter Todd Rundgren, sixties psych wields an obvious influence over Mild High Club's music, but Brettin strips away the opulence commonly associated with it in favour of phased melodies and heartfelt lyrics. Though he may have been "interested in making simple pop songs with a little bit of jazz," Brettin's subject matter is far from simple. Timeline's themes include the role of the internet and avatars, gender-neutral songs about hooking up, making real connections in the hyperreal world of social media and digital devices, and the artist's internal wrangling over the process of songwriting itself. Mild High Club recently toured with post-punk pioneers Wire and has shared the stage with the likes of Mac DeMarco, Ariel Pink and Mikal Cronin.