ON OUR RADAR: SACHA MULLIN
Sacha Mullin discusses his start in music and latest album in today’s On Our Radar!
Credit: Sarah Elizabeth Larson
INTRODUCE YOURSELF!
Hi! I’m Sacha Mullin, and I’m a singer-songwriter based in Chicago, and my new album Casino Wilderness Period is out now! …Yes!
WHAT’S YOUR ORIGIN STORY?
My maternal side is Italian, and my paternal side has English and Irish roots. I was born in California, and we moved to Minnesota a few years later, where I spent most of my formative years in the Twin Cities and the suburbs. There have been a couple blips to the England and New York along the way, and I've been based in Chicago since 2011.
Back when I was a teenager, I stumbled into telecommuting session vocals over to Japanese corporations, and then I suppose things got into motion. I went through formal arts education, sang with some really lovely jazz, rap, and left-field musicians, as well as some rock-in-opposition adjacent groups, became a music educator—and finally, through lots of fire and ash, have made three solo records!
WHEN DID YOU FALL IN LOVE WITH MUSIC?
Oh, well, I've had my ups and downs with music, but as of this minute, we're in love again. (laughs) Music runs in my family. My mother sang a lot of musical theatre and worked with choirs, I have a cousin who was in a metal group, an aunt who ran a music store and can sing and play mandolin like nobody's business, and my maternal grandfather was a big band singer. So music was always around me. And I really have to mention my paternal grandmother Leigh. To call her a fantastic pianist would be an understatement. She really pushed me into taking piano studies seriously.
For a long time, I resisted the idea of following in anyone’s musical footsteps. But I couldn't help being drawn to the synth sounds and "ethereal" music from 90s sci-fi shows. I also developed a fascination for session and backing vocalists. It felt like I was being pulled toward this unique musical world, and I started to see that I could find my own path in music and that somehow, because of this deep love of music, I was going to find a way to make it work.
I'm aware of the privilege of growing up around so many musicians. However, my family wasn't wealthy, and the thought of pursuing a formal education and/or a music career frightened me due to the industry nonsense and high investment costs involved. I worked really hard for certain opportunities, and after all the blood, I’m grateful for the goodwill people have for me.
What really made me fall in love with music was hearing powerful singers hired for soundtrack work who were celebrated for their distinctive voices. I loved the idea of a singer's tone, delivery, and skill contributing to a song's overall sound, rather than just being a decorative centrepiece. And I was obsessed with harmonies. There was a lot of ambitious singing floating around on the radio: things like En Vogue, Manhattan Transfer, Judas Priest, Ella Fitzgerald... As a kid, I was mesmerised by the way voices could blend and create a beautiful resonance and be exploratory with sound. I knew that no matter what I did in life, I had to be surrounded by singing.
DOES THE MUSIC YOU MAKE DIFFER TO THE MUSIC YOU ENJOY AS A FAN? IF SO, HOW?
Maybe? I think the amount of icy Scandinavian dance music I listen to seems to make very serious people turn their heads, but I think everything has the propensity for value, as long as it’s made with pride and sincerity. “Authenticity” is a bit of a loaded word. And I know it’s a bit of an eye roll when someone says they listen to “a bit of everything” but I really do. And intensely.
I love k.d. lang. I love Adrian Belew. I love Béla Bartók. I love Metallica. There’s a lot of love! (laughs) I have Hooverphonic, Sugababes, the Mamas and the Papas, and Donna Summer tattoos! And with writing, I suppose in the sense that I haven’t made the concentrated effort to make “just a jazz record” or “just a rock record”. So in the wanderlust of it all, I’m trying to find connections to different kinds of music.
As much as I “get” and have an appreciation for the kind of academically inclined stuff, I think pop music is just as valid, and I really don’t understand the guilt that people have sometimes just for liking a solid song. Posturing isn’t all that it’s made out to be. If someone’s taken clichés and transformed them into something amazing, then great! I mean, a lot of Xenomania’s productions are incredible and completely bonkers, and it makes me sad that sometimes people get so stuck on needing to stay ‘credible’ that they put blinders on some really inventive and frankly enjoyable music.
All that said, my layered, singer-songwriter stuff isn’t quite at conventional dancefloor levels right now, but I love the work I’ve made. I’m proud to say my album feels distinctly me, and who knows what future albums hold!
FOR READERS WHO HAVEN’T HEARD OF YOU BEFORE, HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR MUSIC?
“Angular melodies attached to propulsive yet sad songs from a guy with a nice voice. Lots of harmonies and drums. Call now and get a second blender free.”
WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO STEP INTO THE WORLD OF RELEASING MUSIC?
Music is a sonic representation of someone’s thoughts, and I think the construction and the heart together as a team, is everything to me. I think a part of me chases this need to try to pay it forward to all the unsung heroes who make so much of the work we love.
You’ve been releasing music for over a decade - how do you feel you’ve grown since your debut album, whelm?
Hmm. Well, I’d say there’s more consistency in my performances, and way more confidence in general. I don’t feel afraid to make direct requests when making music that’s supposed to be for me, and I also think I’m continually getting better at organising all the busy sounds I hear. Whelm, for any misgivings I have in its execution, was a starting point I’m proud of, and it’s been really rewarding to hear myself get closer and closer to realising both my potential as a musician, and getting on tape what I hear in my head.
YOUR third album, casino wilderness period, is out now! which song were you most excited for your listeners to hear?
I should probably be a smart PR machine and solely push the radio singles ‘Arranging Flowers’ and ‘Telepathy’—they’re great songs, and ‘Flowers’ has a cool music video—but I’m going to go a little rogue and say that I also really love ’Margaret’. To me, it’s the heart of the album, so I hope you love it too.
what made you choose ‘arranging flowers’ as the album’s opening track?
As acrobatic as the chorus is, there’s still something so declarative about it, the lyrics especially, and I felt it was a strong statement overall as the “theme song” to the record. The whole song is about disillusionment, survival, entertainment, questioning the pedestals we put powerful people on… I’ve more than paid dues in the industry at this point, and making the record was very healing for me, in ways where I felt I found self-assuredness. So I think there’s a part of me that just feels when you push play, “hey, let’s push back and hit the ground running right out of the gate.
Often people say that the moment in which you experience music for the first time can make or break how you feel about it. Do you recommend a way for your fans to experience the album for their first listen?
Headphones or a night time drive, please and thank you!
Having been in the music industry for a while, do you have any tips for emerging artists?
Don’t do it! It’s a trap! (laughs) No, just first understand internally why you want to pursue music professionally, and then knuckle down and get as business literate and computer literate as you can be. You’re essentially committing to running a small business, so you have to find the joy in clerical work and organisation. Find an arts-inclined counsellor or therapist. Adopt a cat. Journal. I think it’s shocking to many artists, especially indie ones, how much admin you have to do to keep it going, and it can make you feel over your head. If you have people in your corner, especially people who love you even when you’re not in artist mode, the journey will be far easier.
what can we expect from you in the future?
Sometimes I think back to that fable about Kate Bush during a large downtime before her Aerial album came out, and an EMI exec goes to her house and asks what she’s been working on—to which she brings a cake out of the oven. It’s so sarcastic but so relatable. I imagine there’ll be another unintentional gap between the next record for me as well, and certainly I’ll bake a few cakes at home, but I have so many ideas about new music that I hope I can coordinate studio time sooner rather than later.
But in the here and now, expect me to be celebrating this record! It’s been such a long time coming, and I’m just so proud of it. I want to do good by the whole Casino. I’m hoping to do a set of live shows in the coming year, and possibly release a few surprises along the way.
Supported by Musosoup #SustainableCurator