Milo Pullman releases new album I-95 revealing new expressions

Singer-songwriter Milo Pullman is no stranger to the music industry. With more than 20 years of songwriting experience, Pullman is ready to share his lyrics with the world. His latest record, I-95, while not bound by a single cohesive identity, is a collection of ten songs intended to capture his wildest thoughts—and to inspire listeners to do the same.Pullman spoke with Isabella Appell about the creation of I-95, the importance of physical media, and why it’s essential to never give up on your music.

This article has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Tell me a little about when you started making music. What were inspirations you drew from?

See, when I started out, my goal was to be a guitar slinger. My first musical hero was Jimi Hendrix. And, from a young age, I was listening to a lot of blues –Howlin’ Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, Otis Rush, and many others. I became fascinated by a guy from Texas named Johnny Winter, a wild albino musician who was a master of both the electric guitar and the steel resonator. Not only was Johnny an incredible guitar player, but he could put across the blues vocally in a way that most white guys couldn’t. Very quickly, however, I realized I was just never gonna play guitar like him. I had also heard the songs of Woody Guthrie recorded by Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and I was reading books – writers like Thomas Mann and Joseph Conrad. So I changed my focus and started writing songs.

Your new record, I-95, just came out. What was the process of creating it and why did you envision releasing it on a physical disc?

I couldn’t afford to hire a band to play with me in any kind of way that was gonna last.  With a group, it has to be right, because if everyone’s not sympathetic to what you’re doing, it can overwhelm the music and the songs disappear. I tried performing the songs I’d been writing live, just me on my own, and that seemed to go down well. My original intention was to record the album solo- just me singing along with my acoustic guitar, some harmonica and maybe a couple of electric guitar overdubs to spice things up. In the end, some excellent musicians local to the studio joined me on some of the cuts – drums, pedal steel guitar, pump organ and violin.

A record label had asked to release the album on analog reel to reel tape prior to the recording after hearing some demos I’d made on my phone. There’s only so much you could fit, based on the rules of tape and vinyl records. You’ve got to set limits at some point, which is why there are only ten songs. People are used to just listening to streaming, and that’s all well and good, but I wish people could hear the music in its best light. There’s really nothing like the sound—besides vinyl which is the next best thing. I think about art as a method of communication. When someone’s making a record, they’re attempting to appeal to the listener on an emotional level, using the medium of sound. Sonically speaking, for me, analog recording is the straightest path to the listener from where I stand. The vinyl version of the record that’s out there was cut straight from the tape- no digital at all.

Whether it’s a song or a painting, whatever it may be, I think the point of making art is to express something that couldn’t be expressed otherwise. I don’t sit down to write a song in the beginning. I just have ideas in my head, and sometimes I’ll write them down, but the actual writing comes very quickly. It’s kind of like carving a statue out of a chunk of rock. In the writing, you’re uncovering and clarifying your thoughts.

Are there any themes or messages embedded into the record? 

It was recorded in a studio called Dreamland, which is in upstate New York. It was done quickly and recorded live because I paid for it myself, so it was a matter of practicality. The record was made now because I didn’t want to wait around for someone else to help me make it, which may well have been never. It was either I do it or I give up, so I did it. There’s something to be said for necessity. In fact, necessity might be one theme of the record.

The album is about what everyone thinks about—love, hate, politics, war, justice and the lack thereof. There’s one song on the record called “Ismael Lopez.” There was a misunderstanding a few years back where the police were called in for a disturbance, but they went to the wrong house and killed a man who happened to be an illegal immigrant. The local authorities tried to argue that the dead man had no rights so they could avoid responsibility for their actions; the song isn’t about immigration, but it just seemed to me if they could use that as an excuse, then pretty soon we could all be in trouble. 

You’ve been writing music since you were about 19 years old. What made you want to release new music now at 42?

Why wouldn’t I? I still enjoy writing songs and recording them. That might be an understatement. Look, it’s hard to find funding in the arts these days; you might not record something for quite a while. It used to be that you put together some good material, you’re out there performing, and manage to catch the attention of people with money. In order for them to give you a shot now, they want you to be a superstar before they put in any work.

Is your music directed towards a specific audience and if yes, what do you want them to take away from the new record?

I just want people to listen to the songs and inspire them to think about their own lives in some way. Maybe they’ll hear something in the songs that will make them stop and think about things from a new angle. We live in a pretty fast-paced world, don’t we? I would say that anything that makes someone slow down and reflect is good for them. It’s hard to imagine anybody that wouldn’t like my music [laughs]. It’s not written for any group of people; I just hope everybody listens and enjoys it. I hope they buy it too!