We caught up with Benjamin Plant (aka Mild Minds) to find out about his new hit single “Movements” (Out Now!), his humble beginnings and his rise to fame!
As a teenager, Plant was always playing around with computer music programs. He subsequently went on to study film at university, and was at a time when music was starting to take off online. Openly admitting, Plant chose this path because for the talented artist, you can create music without relying on anyone else as opposed to film which generally requires a much larger set of individuals.
Fast forward to today, and his new singly ‘Movements’, out now, has been defined by Mild Minds as a project about experimenting freely, finding sounds he likes and building off them.
“This song happened in exactly that way. I’ve been experimenting with ascending chord progressions because of the feeling they create. This song in particular makes use of that as well as the progression being quite anticipated in rhythm.”
For Plant, this creates a forward movement and a tension that doesn’t get resolved. The lyrics play on this further, exploring the dichotomy Mild Mind’s believes we all have within us. The urge to move forward and grow but while our own fears hold us back.
For the artist, for music to stand out, there has to be an original element to it. Not conforming to genres and cliches will be one part of it, however Mild Minds points mainly to emotion and moods that he wants to create. “Each person has their own life experiences if you channel that you can find a feeling that nobody else can create. Tame Impala has always been a great example of that.”
Highlighting his favourite song as that from his upcoming album Dopamine, Mild Minds looks to invoke fans identifying with subtle emotions through is music, a crossover between the melancholy end of something beautiful but the excitement of something new. Nostalgia, escapism.
The artist humbly notes he has been lucky enough to have lots of support from the people that mean something to him. Plant feels its hugely important to have that support otherwise it would be easy to give up when times get hard.
“The more you can resist the stronger you get and often careers are partly about out lasting those who give up.”
Looking at the music industry, Mild Minds believes there needs to be more significance..there was a time where the artist reminisces over the music output being more limited and glamorous than it is today. In Mild Minds view, it doesn’t make as much sense to work on something for years and have people just skim over it. Now with all the noise its hard to focus on something for long or to get to excited.
Keen to get most of his inspiration from outside of music, Mild Mind’s preference is less on the use of musical influences to create the boundaries of what he wants to create For students looking to get into the music industry Plant believes:
1. “As with most endeavors are solely responsible for making it happen. Don’t wait for that friend who promises to mix your track for free or give you dj lessons. There’s so much you can learn online. There’s no excuses, cut down on tv, cut down on Instagram, you’ll find the time.”
2. “If you have the passion for something you can make it happen. Do it as a hobby at first, if you feel a drive to come home and work on it after school or after work every night then you know its something you can do can as a career. If you don’t have that excitement and drive I’d suggest finding something else.”
Looking to the future, Mild Minds looks forward to spending time writing in different locations around the world and letting them inspire each album. Along with building a fanbase in Europe and touring which form the bread and butter of his current project!
