Track x Track: Mittere - 'Boy'

Following on from majestic singles Found and Gone (that we premiered here), accomplished producer, engineer, composer and multi-instrumentalist Dan Frizza has readied his new full length of cinematic and epic sounds with Boy out today.

Known for his work behind the scenes, engineering and producing for the likes of King Princess, Tones and I, Turtle Skull and Flyying Colours, Mittere is Frizza’s personal artistic outlet, with Boy the culmination of his recent compositions… and the first of three new albums on the way. With Boy taking cues from the likes of Washed Out, Spacemen 3 and Sigur Ros, we can only imagine what the rest of the trilogy will sound like, as Frizza explains “I plan to release each album in succession every 3-6 months apart, starting with this current record, along with Dolby Atmos versions of each song.”

Across six epic and emotional tracks, Boy sees Mittere telling a tale of childhood, adolescence and adulthood, Dan explains the concept for the album as being “about significant feelings and moments that occurred from a young age. For me it was a way of making sense of those things and processing them and kind of taking stock of everything that has taken place since. The name of the album ‘Boy’ seemed fitting for this reason.”

When it comes to both being his day job as the producer as well as the artist on an album, unique challenges arise as Frizza says “the recording and writing process was quite a unique one, I made a deal with a studio to get access for about a week. I didn’t really have any songs planned and just went in on a wim to force myself to come up with some songs. By week's end I had some pretty solid versions of each song from this album, after that I got my good friend and colleague (Miles Thomas) who is a session drummer, of which I have used for countless albums, come play drums on the record. Soon after, I mixed it and here we are. Overall it seemed like a seamless process. I think I had so much inside waiting to come out that once I began recording, it seemed to just kind of take over and record itself. I remember thinking how easy that was, especially building the idea up in my mind as well — it reminded me that sometimes we just need to do the thing instead of lamenting over it too long. It was a strange experience working on my own for this one. Usually I’m the one giving insight and direction for the artist in the studio, so I needed to learn to guide myself through this without letting the small things that people get swept up in get the better of me. I quickly learned to not hold onto any particular idea or notion too much and move quickly, maintaining a good flow and energy for it.”

With Boy out today, Dan was kind enough to take us through it track by track - have a listen and get to know!

Fool

This track is a song about a coming of age from a child’s perspective who is being catapulted to life in the real world. ‘Fool’ is about dreams and the decisions we make in our lives pursuing them from one small ripple, or an idea, and how it can affect so much. After being written and recorded in the same moment, Mittere was able to pour that prolific expression out by letting the idea pass through and be captured with little resistance. Or even an idea as to what exactly the message was.

Gone

Mittere dives back into his childhood and how one small fleeting moment can influence someone’s trajectory in life. Musically it is reminiscent of other ambient heavyweights Washed Out and Sigur Ros, combined with a taste of minimalist psychedelia such as Spacemen 3 in the layered, heavily affected guitars and ethereal, emotive vocals. This single is also accompanied by a breathtaking short film made by Marguerite Lorraine, which follows the emotive and personal narrative of the song. It’s a stunning visual companion to the track that will keep you watching from start to end.

Home

This track is about what it is to be part of a family – to be part of one unit. It is about looking inward within this unit – finding wisdom and place through the responsibilities of the lives before us, and passed through us. Lovingly dedicated to my late grandfather.

Tonight

This song is about shaking the urks of being a young male in a city of anxious night life. A lonely perspective of how repetitive the nature of bars and clubs can be whilst creating a perpetual loop for a lot of these young folk that frequent them.

Droplet

This is a little seedling of a track was meant to be a Segway between Tonight & Found, I enjoyed ebbing and flowing from a little seedling to tensions building upon one another until they’re released, a quick little fleeting song that disappears as quickly as it seemed to appear.

Found

This track is about the coming of age, as is most of the record this single is from. All these songs are a memory of/or particular fork in my life that I recall moments or feelings from, usually the more profound ones. This song is about how no matter how hard we try, sometimes we just can’t make moments or situations happen, this song is about putting all that you can into something to hopefully get to the end of the quest with what you set out to achieve, sometimes it doesn’t always happen how we plan but instead, we veer off that track and onto something we never would have known was there at the beginning.

          - Dan Frizza (Mittere), July 2023

Mittere's new album Boy is out now

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