MILDRED SHARE NEW TRACK ‘PITCH BOATS’
DEBUT ALBUM FENCELINE OUT 24 APRIL VIA MEMORIALS OF DISTINCTION /
DOG DAY RECORDS
Watch the video for ‘Pitch Boats’ here:
https://youtu.be/DBh_H09IHiI
Listen everywhere here:
https://bfan.link/pitch-boats
“Outstanding debut from Californian four-piece”
9/10 Uncut
“The material contained signs of creative acceleration, a growing sense of confidence as Mildred gelled into a unified vision.”
Clash
“The storytelling is packed with poetic flairs and turns of phrase”
The Line of Best Fit
“How about this very nice two and half minutes of country-pop longing called Water by a band named Mildred, a quartet of singer-songwriters based in Oakland, California? It’s great, isn’t it”
The New Cue
“Mildred proves that friendship and spontaneity can create something beautifully unexpected”
Still Listening
“Mildred [has] that undefinable something that blurs the lines between making music and making magic.”
For The Rabbits
“Fenceline captures Mildred at the point where scattered scenes, relationships, and half-formed ideas coalesce into something quietly assured”
whynow
Bandcamp | Instagram | TikTok
Mildred – a band from Oakland, CA of four equal parts: four singers, four songwriters – earlier this year announced their debut album Fenceline which will be released on 24 April via Memorials of Distinction / Dog Day Records. Since then, they’ve shared videos for lead singles ‘Fish Sticks‘, ‘Fenceline‘, as well as today sharing their music video for ‘Pitch Boats’.
Their final single, ‘Pitch Boats’, lifted from their debut album Fenceline, showcases the band’s detail-rich songwriting, peering into a moment that feels instantly recognisable. It’s a track full of unique, offbeat lyrical snapshots (“And I’m a ghost of some little kid sneaking sodas from the shed”); lines that linger as much as the melody itself. Steady rhythms, plucky guitar lines and yearning vocals shape Mildred’s earworm sensibility, all of which bloom across their record.
Speaking of the track singer Henry says:
“Most of these lyrics I wrote in my head as I was driving back from a weekend at my grandparents’ house in central Oregon. I was at first a little hesitant to record it because it felt cheap to me or something; the way that it came together so quickly and had this nostalgic feeling I wasn’t necessarily aiming for. After some prodding from my bandmates I caved. I’m glad I did! Will’s drumming really makes the song for me. Same with Jack’s low-register backing vocals. The accompanying guitar and piano bits remind me of a kid learning to play a broken instrument which feels fitting for this song.“
At the end of last year, Mildred released their debut twin EPs mild and red, an insatiable collection of songs birthed before Mildred even knew they were a band. Arriving purposefully on the scene in that gentle, approachable Mildred way, the EPs picked up support from The Guardian, The Line of Best Fit, Uncut (‘We’re New Here’), The New Cue, Clash, DIY and more. Before they had even widely released any music, they also made their debut on UK shores with a headline show at The Windmill in Brixton (initiating impromptu acapella during a sudden blackout), as well as playing at London’s The Shacklewell Arms and Bristol’s The Louisiana.
Having supported Naima Bock on her US tour last February, (proclaiming them as “my favourite band”), Mildred will be touring North America this May & June:
3 May – Los Angeles, CA @ Healing Force of the Universe
5 May – San Francisco, CA @ Make Out Room
23 May – New York City, NY @ Alphaville
25 May – Toronto, ON @ Collective Arts
26 May – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
27 May – Minneapolis, MN @ Zhora Darling
6 June – San Francisco, CA @ Treat Street
The songs that make up Fenceline come together as a group with their genesis sprouting from any one of their members – Henry Easton Koehler (vocals, guitar), Jack Schrott (vocals, guitar), Matt Palmquist (vocals, bass, woodwinds) or Will Fortna (drums, production) – each time. The songs are often wrestled from the lead writer by the other three, a lyric might have been mumbled absentmindedly for a few days before one of the other three grabs at it. If you ask any Mildred member what their favourite part of Fenceline is, it will never be something they wrote. If you pin them down and ask them what their favourite part of something they did write was, it will always be something somebody else added to it.
Purchase Fenceline on limited vinyl and CD here:
https://bfan.link/fenceline
Purchase the 250 limited ‘UPS Brown’ Dinked Edition here:
https://ffm.bio/mildred
Photo credit: Kevin Herhusky
High-res images can be found here
Fenceline cover art painting by Jack Schrott
Fenceline tracklist:
1. UPS Brown
2. Fish Sticks
3. Charlie
4. Cobwebs
5. Fenceline
6. Fleet Week
7. Aquinas
8. Mumblecore Melody
9. Pitch Boats
10. Hardcore of Beauty
Praise for Mildred:
“Outstanding debut from Californian four-piece”
9/10 Uncut
“A beautiful song that might have been designed for autumn: slow-paced, it gradually washes over you, infused with a weary sadness”
The Guardian
“The material contained signs of creative acceleration, a growing sense of confidence as Mildred gelled into a unified vision”
Clash
“The storytelling is packed with poetic flairs and turns of phrase”
The Line of Best Fit
“How about this very nice two and half minutes of country-pop longing called Water by a band named Mildred, a quartet of singer-songwriters based in Oakland, California? It’s great, isn’t it”
The New Cue
“Mildred proves that friendship and spontaneity can create something beautifully unexpected”
Still Listening
“Mildred [has] that undefinable something that blurs the lines between making music and making magic.”
For The Rabbits
“Fenceline captures Mildred at the point where scattered scenes, relationships, and half-formed ideas coalesce into something quietly assured”
whynow
“A beguiling, gentle introduction to the sound of Mildred”
God Is In The TV ‘Tracks of the Week’
“Hypnotising in its drift and quietly devastating in its emotional undercurrent”
Atwood
“One of the best new bands on the scene”
Americana UK
“An overarching feeling of warmth and openness”
The Most Radicalist ‘List Pick’
“Ever-compelling and wildly talented”
To Be Frank
“Intoxicating”
Joyzine