Throwback files: Unknown Mortal Orchestra
The 10th anniversary of Unknown Mortal Orchestra's self-titled debut album.
Ten years ago, The America-based, New Zealand singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Ruban Nielson (of The Mint Chicks) released his debut album as Unknown Mortal Orchestra through Fat Possum Records (and a number of other labels including Spunk Records, Seeing Records and True Panther Sounds). At the time, I was writing for a now-defunct New Zealand-based music magazine called Rip It Up. At some point during one of the early UMO US tours, I interviewed Ruban by phone from the back of the tour van. Considering the occasion, I thought I’d re-share that interview with you today. Please enjoy.
On The Road Again: An Interview with Ruban Nielson
Unknown Mortal Orchestra is both the band and album Ruban Nielson always wanted to listen to, but couldn't ever find. Curled up in the back of a van somewhere in Arkansas (in the US) with as he puts it, "the worst hangover of my life," Nielsen explains. "There was this psyche record that I was looking for, this sound, and no matter how hard I looked, I just couldn't find it. So I ended up making it myself." Defining "psyche" as, in his words, "psychedelic rock and roll music inspired by taking drugs and about trippy stuff," Nielson's pursuit of this set of conditions began around a year ago. An initial factor was the demise of The Mint Chicks, the band who, as a member of (alongside his brother Kody) he relocated from Auckland to Portland in the US in 2007 to make a proper stab at making it in America.
"I've got a wife and two children," Nielson says. "At the time I just had one child, and for a lot of different reasons it was just time to call things quits with The Mint Chicks. I've always done art and graphics, as well as music. I thought I could intern with some companies, get into that industry and maybe have a normal life." Settling into a routine, Nielsen found himself impulsively picking up old tape recorders and random pieces of audio equipment from various junkshops along the way. Next thing he knew, he was, as he laughs, "recording in our living room after the baby had gone to sleep."
At this point, with no external pressures attached to his creativity, Nielsen found himself really really enjoying the song-writing and recording process. "I had no expectations or goals aside from making the record I wanted to hear, and it just became a lot of fun. I was trying out a lot of things I never got to do in The Mint Chicks and it just felt really good," he says. "The next thing I knew I had an album worth of music." Mixing hip-hugging drum breakbeats with lucid dreamlike voice, guitar and bass work, with Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Nielsen builds on the optimistic psychedelica of the sixties and the swamp rock and funk of the seventies, creating a body of work which feels like a snapshot of "love generation" music from an alternative reality.
Unsure as to where his body of work fit in, Nielson built a basic bandcamp page, hosted the song 'Ffunny Ffrends' and sent a few MP3s off to some blogs, in the hope of, as he recalls, "Finding a community of people online who were interested in lo-fi psyche music." Several days later, while Nielson was at his job, one of his co-workers proceeded to play 'Ffunny Ffrends' off his computer, while telling Nielson about this cool new band one of his friends in New York had just put him onto - Unknown Mortal Orchestra.
"Apart from my wife and kids, no one else even knew I was making music anymore," he confesses. "I told my workmate that it was my song and he almost didn't believe me." Getting online, a quick search of the internet revealed the MP3s he'd sent out to those key bloggers had gone viral, resulting coverage on, as he laughs "about a million blogs and music websites," including critically, Pitchfork. Soon afterwards linking with a boutique UK label called The Sounds of Sweet Nothing, Nielson released a limited run 7" record which sold out almost instantly, building hype further.
From there, Nielson found himself receiving offers of interest for both touring and record release. Teaming up with a young drummer by the name of Julien Erhlich and bassist Jake Portrait (who mixed and co-produced the last Mint Chicks album Screens), the trio hit the road, interpreting Nielsen's songs into extended guitar solo and full-jam out versions on what has become a never-ending tour. Along the way, at 4am in the morning, on a drunken bender, Nielson signed a bar napkin contract with respected independent label Fat Possum Records. "Fat Possum had wanted to sign The Mint Chicks," Nielson explains. "Out of all the labels, they were the most willing to come with a deal that would let me support my wife and kids and tour properly."
So far, Nielson has managed to, as he hoped to, side-step being pigeonholed into, in his words, "Just the indie rock world." As a by-product of this, he has picked up co-signs from ?uestlove (of The Roots), EL-P and Das Racist, as well as linking arrangements for remixes and collaborations with Odd Future act MellowHype (also signed to Fat Possum Records). "?uestlove is someone who, from when I was in The Mint Chicks, we always imagined what it would be like to play to him and get acknowledgement from him," Nielson says. "So it's pretty amazing to have him as a fan."
Touring day in and day out is taxing though, as Nielson's hangover is a sure reminder of. And while that aside, his biggest complaint is missing his wife and children, ultimately, for Nielson to be able to do what he is doing now (at the time of writing, he'd played around sixty dates in four so months) is very encouraging. "All of my favourite music is from here [America] and everything happens here. So to be able to give up, start again on my own terms and get recognised by my heroes is huge," he says, with an air of validation. "I had times where I was making a living in The Mint Chicks, so I always thought if I could have an international music career it would be good." And while hype regardless Nielson remains circumspect ("I don't know, I'm still figuring it all out," he says), with the album soon hitting shelves and an endless list of tour dates, things look very promising indeed.
Postscript: I’m not sure whether any of us really figure it all out, but if you look at what Ruban and his longtime collaborator Jake Portrait have accomplished over the last decade, they’ve definitely understood something. Here’s to another ten!