Blake Mundel - Revisited

Dan

Hello, it's Dan here. In the Key of Q is on hiatus until the first of March, but until those new episodes drop, here are clips from the patron exclusive feed, plus other treats from the main episode to keep you occupied.

This week we revisit Blake Mundell, aka Courier. This is an exclusive episode for our Patreon subscribers, where I chat with all queer musicians about their five songs to save from Armageddon. Enjoy.

Hello and welcome to our Patreon special episode In the key of Q, where we welcome back Blake Mandel Blake, welcome.

Blake

Thanks. Thanks for having me. It's good to be here.

Dan

Absolutely. It's a pleasure to have you. Now I've got some bad news and the end of all things is approaching. Mm-Hmm. Which is a I know it's a shit way to end the week.

Blake

Yeah, we've known for about a year now, though, so I've gotten used to it.

Dan

Oh, that's right. And you know, with all of this, this ending approaching, you're going to have to rescue only five songs. Yes, which you adore and are inspired by. What might those be?

Blake

Yeah. So I mean, I think I'd be remiss if I didn't say some Beyonce song because Beyonce needs to survive Armageddon.

Dan

She does.

Blake

She absolutely does. Yeah. So and picking just one of her songs is difficult enough. So. But I would say probably my favourite right now is still All Night from Lemonade. It's the last track. It's one of my favourites.

It's just the horns in there. Just put me in my feels. So there's one. I'll try to hit this a little more quickly.

Dan

There's no rush on them. You can you can engage and wallow in your choices as much as the following.

Blake

That's one of my favourite things I would probably pick a Paul Simon song. Love Paul Simon. So I'd probably say. Oh, gosh. Maybe. Something from. Why am I blanking on the name, something from Rhythm of the Saints or Graceland?

Probably. Um.

Dan

You know, I remember when Graceland came out and the quality of production on that. I just remember listening to it on headphones. I must have been about 15, and it just felt three. It just felt like it was in surround sound, even though it was only in two ears. It was just incredible.

Blake

Yeah, yeah. I feel like there are records where you can feel the writers and the artists and the producers creativity, and you can hear the way that they were taking risks. And I feel like that's one of those records.

Yeah, that all came together in a very beautiful way sonically. So, yeah, probably, probably a song from one of those records. Gosh, I would probably save a Sufjan Stevens song. My new favourite is Ascension from the record Ascension.

Dan

And then why would that be? What is it you liked about that one so much?

Blake

Oh gosh. So I feel like the longer I talk about Sufjan, the longer or the more stuff I get wrong about him. Just because he's he bails himself in this air of mystery. But that song seems to detail part of my story a little bit, especially when it comes to kind of re-evaluating and deconstructing matters of faith and spirituality and religion. It embodies this perspective of, oh gosh, I would say, almost kind of the spirit of the Book of Ecclesiastes, where it's where it just feels like everything is meaningless. And all of the things that I worked for and the things that I believed in have seemed to amount to nothing.

I'm going to a very dark place, but but it captures that feeling in a in a beautiful way because it lays it over top music that's simultaneously a kind of desperate in the way that it sounds, but also kind of light and airy.

And it's the penultimate song on that record. And so it kind of leads into kind of the climax of of the record and it is the title track. So, yeah, I do feel like that that thread runs throughout that entire record, but it's really kind of captured more, obviously in that song.

So, yeah, I listen to that one when I want to cry a little bit and get a little bit more reflective and sometimes nostalgic, but.

Dan

Excellent, and everybody listening to this, of course, all of Blake's song choices will be available on the special playlist, which will pull together, which will also feature songs that we include over in the main podcast itself. OK, Blake, if we could have your next choice, please?

Blake

Yes. Goodness. Oh, I'm trying to decide between like a classic or something new. I. When I first came to Nashville, a lot of people would tell me that a lot of the stuff that I was writing and performing sounded like James Taylor, so I might save a James Taylor song.

Maybe Fire and Rain. You know, classic? Yeah, probably a James Taylor song.

And then, gosh, last one. Let's throw a. Let's throw a Chance the Rapper song in there, let's say.

Dan

So you're really you're really spanning genres.

Blake

I just wanted to round it out a little bit.

Dan

Sorry, what was that choice again?

Blake

Let's Do Some Drugs. That song is so fun to play on the piano and to cover live. So I would say same drugs. Yeah.

Dan

Excellent choice. So do you feel with these five songs as the skies darken and fire falls on your head and you take your final breath that they'll offer you some comfort?

Blake

Yes, they would just wrap me in a blanket of peace as I quietly pass into oblivion.

Dan

Now, one of my aims for this podcast is to introduce our subscribers to new queer music. And I think one of the best ways to do this is to have a gateway song that introduces people into your catalogue.

So what would you say? Do you think your gateway track would be?

Blake

I would say right now I would probably tell people to go listen to Conversion. That's going to kind of set the trajectory for the music that's coming. But if they just want like a good feel-good song, that kind of sums up what I've done so far. I would say, go listen to San Francisco. That seems to be the popular one these days.

Dan

Blake Mandell, a.k.a. Courier, thank you so much for joining me today.

Blake

Dan, thank you so much. It's been a pleasure talking to you. Just even getting to know you and I really appreciate you reaching out and featuring my music. Tell my story a little bit. Yeah, we appreciate it.

Dan

I really look forward to having you back on the show again soon when you've got some gorgeous new material that I can't wait to hear.

Blake

That would be awesome. I would love that.

Dan

You've been listening to In the Key of Q. The opening theme is by Paul Leonidou at unstoppablemonsters.com. Check out the show notes for links, including a Spotify playlist to complement this episode. The podcasts home is that inthekeyofq.com and over on our Patron page, you can find exclusive content.

Many thanks to Kajann Kantha and Moray Laing. Please rate and subscribe the podcast and follow us on social media. This episode is produced by me Dan Hall for Pup Media Consultancy. See you next Quesday!