Photo Credit: Charline Clavier

The Blaze Velluto Collection unveil their album, What’s On Your Mind? (Interview)

Jenna Melanson·October 5, 2023

Third album from the enigmatic folk rock band released with a new video for the song “Aligned”

Quebec City-based The Blaze Velluto Collection has shared their new album What’s On Your Mind? out now on all digital streaming platforms via Duprince Records.

After the release of 3 singles this year – “Feeler,” “Baby (You Set My Love on Fire Everyday),” and “Friends” – here they go again for the grand finale. A third album, including 11 steady and groovy songs that take the ear into a vast, almost cinematic experience. From folk to rock, with a bit of country, pop, and psych sounds, this album leads its audience into a completely new, yet surprisingly welcoming universe.

True to its outstanding visuals, Blaze whipped up a slot car race for the release of the album with the official video for the focus track “Aligned.”

First off, care to introduce The Blaze Velluto Collection to our readers?

Blaze Velluto was born in 2012, he never talks and sleeps in a guitar case. He wrote a collection of love songs for his first album and named his band in their honour. Other than that it really is about songwriting and challenging creativity to dress them up… kind of a solo studio project in which I invite friends and different musicians to serve the songs. It evolved into something way more collective on stage as well, everybody brings their twists and turns, and we make our own little versions of the studio takes.

You have unveiled your album, What’s On Your Mind?. Tell us a bit about the creative process behind the release.

To be honest, it’s a pandemic album. The only drummer I had was an old Acetone Rhythm Ace called “Electro Ken”. Although I had a few songs up my sleeve and used Ken to play the backbeat, I composed the other way around, using the drum machine and then improvising on top. What’s on your Mind comes from what Facebook asks you when you want to share how you feel inside with the rest of the world.

You have released four singles from the album, “Feeler,” “Baby (You Set My Love on Fire Everyday),” “Friends,” and now the focus track, “Aligned.” How did you go about choosing which tracks were to be singles?

I had to hear what our Label Duprince’s suggestions were, I mean I was out of perspective. The only one I really wanted was “Friends” as a single and maybe ‘Waiting Room’, probably my favourite tracks, it’s the only reason. But I’m happy with what we chose in the end, it really showcases the different textures the album holds.

You have also unveiled a music video for “Aligned.” What was the highlight of the video shoot?

The highlight was definitely the creative process behind building the miniature set. We used a desk chair and put a steering wheel on it, with a little wind and a passing light, we had our human-scale car! For the miniatures, we used spoons as lamp posts, we had to hot rod the cars and add lights to them. The explosion was fun to do, I mean all is, it must have taken some 250 hours to complete! And as with all our videos, it’s shot on film, it’s a surprise each time!