Most albums start in the studio and end on stage. Ross Mintzer decided to do it the other way around. His upcoming album, aimless mystics, didn’t just grow out of writing sessions and production experiments — it was forged in real time, under the lights, in front of living, breathing audiences.
Mintzer began producing the album’s tracks in 2023, but instead of refining them in isolation, he treated each song as a living draft. As soon as one was complete enough to play, he brought it to a show, testing it in the unpredictable environment of a live performance. “It was like having a conversation with the audience,” he says. “You play a song, you feel how people respond, and it tells you what the song needs next. The stage becomes part of the creative process.”
Rare Energy
That approach gives aimless mystics a rare energy — one that’s difficult to engineer in a closed studio. Each song carries traces of the rooms it’s been performed in, shaped by the reactions, silences, and moments of connection that only happen when music meets an audience. Over the past four years, Mintzer has built that audience deliberately, returning annually to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where his shows at the Pablo Center at the Confluence and The 410 have drawn crowds in the hundreds. These performances have become collaborative by design. One recent show featured live visual art by Max Koehler, a nod to Mintzer’s belief that music is most powerful when it intersects with other forms of expression.
His live work has expanded beyond his own concerts, too. Last year, he co-organized a benefit show at Racket NYC with Code To Inspire, the first coding school for girls in Afghanistan. Founder Fereshteh Forough recalls how Mintzer’s presence transformed the event. “Ross’s music and generosity turned the fundraiser into more than a concert,” she says. “It became an act of solidarity and hope.” Earlier this year, he brought that same spirit to Argentina, co-founding the Conectando Dreamers festival in Bariloche. The event drew more than 750 attendees and earned coverage in Billboard AR, with plans already underway for a second edition.
Philosophy of the Album
“Ross understands something a lot of artists overlook,” says Robert Garcia, Mintzer’s publicist at Maximatic Media. “A song doesn’t truly live until it’s shared. What he’s done with aimless mystics — writing songs, performing them, refining them based on that exchange — is a return to something essential about music. It’s about connection first.”
That philosophy is woven into the album’s sonic fabric. Mintzer recorded most of the vocals with a vintage Neumann U47 microphone once used in John Lennon’s Tittenhurst Park Studio, lending the record a warmth and presence that echoes the immediacy of a live show. He also collaborated with Italian producer Lorenzo Cosi — known for his work with David Guetta, Galantis, and Little Mix — on two of the album’s tracks. “Ross is a fantastic co-producer,” Cosi says. “He has strong ideas and a clear vision, but he’s also open to exploration. That balance is what makes the music feel alive.”
Mastering
The mastering was handled by Grammy-winning engineer Alex DeTurk, whose subtle work enhances the album’s organic feel without sacrificing polish. But for Mintzer, the technical details are always in service of something deeper. “At the heart of this album is the idea of aimlessness,” he explains, referencing the Buddhist teaching that inspired the record’s title. “It’s about realizing we already are who we hope to become. That perspective helped me let go of overthinking and trust the process — both on stage and in the studio.”
That mindset has parallels in Mintzer’s life beyond music, too. As a licensed pilot, he’s learned that control is often an illusion — in the air, as in art, the key is to focus on what’s within your power and accept the rest. That Stoic principle shows up in aimless mystics as well, both in the lyrics and the album’s patient pacing.
It’s tempting to call aimless mystics a studio album, but that doesn’t quite capture what Mintzer has built. It’s a collection of songs born in public, tested by audiences, and shaped by the unpredictable alchemy of live music. More than anything, it’s proof that the stage isn’t just a place to present finished work — it can be where that work begins.
