Before forming Neu Blume, Mo Neuharth and Colson Miller spent years in each other’s creative orbits.
Meeting in college back in 2011, the two played for years in separate projects in and around Tempe, Arizona. While they often shared the bill at local shows, it wasn’t until the mid-2010s that they started to work together more closely, co-founding Nanami Ozone and releasing their debut record in 2016. Not long after, however, the pair found themselves pulled in different directions, as Mo moved to Detroit and Colson stayed in Arizona.
Although they continued working on their own projects, the two picked back up when Colson visited Mo in Detroit in 2019, bringing along an eight-track recorder and microphones. Now, six years later and on their second release, their project, Neu Blume, represents a collaboration inspired and shaped by personal and creative transitions. The ten warm, folk-tinged tracks on Let It Win are rooted in processing life’s changes: learning how to weather changes, navigate adulthood, and discovering what it means to begin again as Midwestern transplants.
To mark the release of Let It Win, Mo and Colson headed out on a West Coast tour. In addition to sharing some of their favorite photos, they also sat down with us to discuss the record, share stories behind the songs, and give us a mini playlist of what they’re listening to right now. Read our conversation and check out the new video for “Let It Win” below.
Slumber Mag: Can you describe Neu Blume in 3 words for those who have never heard your music before?
Neu Blume: Warm, intimate, spacious
You’ve both been living in Detroit for a while now, but you’re both originally from the Phoenix area. How has the move to Detroit been for you? What’s the music scene and community like there, and how has it influenced your work as artists?
Detroit is a huge adjustment but the slower pace has allowed us to turn inward with less distractions. The seasons offer a lot of lessons about giving in to / going with the flow
What beverage is best paired and enjoyed with Let it Win? And why?
We’d like to think it’s best understood over coffee on a quiet morning while tidying house (or) preparing breakfast. And if that ain’t your style, wine or beer on the porch late at night
For your first LP as Neu Blume, you recorded Let it Win in Arizona and even returned there for some tour dates around the release.
What was it like returning near home to record the album? Do you feel that the album more so reflects your life in the Midwest, or did returning to your hometown also play a key role in shaping the narrative and feel of the album?
Sonically, it embodies the expansiveness and warmth of the West, which is a direct response to the environment in Oracle, Arizona. But most of the lyrical contents are reflections on life as midwestern transplants adjusting to adulthood, a coming-of-middle-age, if you will.
The pictures you sent us are from a West Coast tour that accompanied the Let It Win release. What was a highlight or favorite memory from the trip?
We did three live tracks with video in the Oracle studio on one of our days off. It was really fun to feel that energy again and see how far we’ve grown as a band and how the songs have evolved since we recorded the record (2 years ago!)
We also did a DJ night at a bar in LA in lieu of a show one night. We flew out west with a bunch of records from our personal collections and picked up a bunch more on the road.
It was a lot harder than we expected, and 4 hours of music is quite a lot. New respect for vinyl DJs, and it was super fun sharing our favs.
If you were both a famous duo (real or fictional), who would you say best describes you and your relationship?
Gillian Welch and David Rawlings have always been a huge source of inspiration.
When you’re not playing or writing music, what’s your favorite thing to do together as a band?
Recently, we went out for margaritas and then took a cat for a walk in a stroller, which I considered a new fav group activity.
You recorded Let It Win at Oracle Recording Studio, a fully analog studio, which you’ve said gave the album a unique warmth.
Did you have a specific sound in mind going into the recording, or was choosing analog more of an experiment? Are there any instruments or sounds you’d like to explore more on your next release?
Colson had been to the studio with a previous project, and the engineer, Austin Owen, is a long-time friend of both of ours. The familiarity of the landscape and our trust in Austin (are) what really brought us there. There are lots of boundaries with recording and mixing entirely on tape, especially with a finite amount of time.
Knowing that, we probably made 3-4 demos of each song beforehand as a sort of dress rehearsal. Still, introducing new people to the songs and having a house full of instruments, there’s always experimentation going on, figuring out which instruments/players best suit the parts.
For instance, bringing in our friend Ian Kelman on pedal steel took the record to a whole new and exciting place. It was hard not to let that heartwrenching, nostalgic sound take over the whole record (or maybe it did). Both of us have been having a resurgence with our childhood instruments.. For Colson, that’s Viola, and for Mo, the clarinet. We’re interested in leaning into those on our next record.
Can you share a story behind one of the songs on Let It Win that listeners might not know? Whether it’s about the writing process, what inspired it, or something else.
We were close to not recording “Mitsubishi (II)” because we had fallen in love with our demo version, intimate and homestyle, which we released in August 2024. Around the time we recorded Let It Win, our live version of the song was really loud, almost sludgy, then would drop out to almost silence. We did this just as a fun exercise.
At the studio, we had a couple of hours left of our tracking session, and instead of ending early, we decided to give the current version of Mitsubishi a shot. We hadn’t rehearsed it with the studio band, and created parameters that we a) had to do it live and b) in one take, or we’d can it.
Later on, when it came time to press the record, we decided to cut this song from the group since we were a little over time on one side. Wally (drums) heavily advocated for keeping it in, so we figured out a way to make room for it, and thus it earned its place in the album. It was almost cut twice, so it’s fun to see it be a favorite for a lot of folks.
Also, truth be told, we did two takes 🙂
What was the first important record you owned? What excited you about it, and how do you feel about it now? Have your feelings changed?
Mo: the first records I explored were my parent’s rock n roll gems like “Some Girls” and “Dark Side of the Moon” but the plot twist is that we didn’t have a compatible stereo for the turntable so I strung RCA cables to my mini tv/vcr combo, the ultimate lo-fi sonic experience. I remember feeling really cool and smart.
Colson: The first record I bought with my own child money was Third Eye Blind’s self-titled album, the one with the red cover, all the hits. If there were any way of calculating what records you’ve listened to most in your life, I’d imagine this one would be in my top 5. Its primary use to me now is the same as it was then: road trips and mowing the grass.
You released your first album, Softer Vessel, back in 2022. What’s one lesson, piece of advice, or otherwise that you learned or took from that first album into the creation of Let It Win?
Keep your eyes on the big picture, let some mistakes and insecurities remain because they give the songs humility and character. If it feels good, it is good.
Can you give us a mini playlist of songs you’ve been enjoying at the moment (3-4 songs)?
Lingering – Allegra Krieger
Right as the Rain – Zane Champion
Canines – Lewsberg,
Time Passes Slowly #1(alternate version) Bob Dylan.
Long Distance Love – Little Feat.
Lastly, finish the sentence…If there’s one thing people should take away from Let it Win, we hope that it’s…
…Trust yourself and those who love you <3
Don't Sleep on These
