“⁠⁠I always had this belief that something could happen,” Mitch Sanders tells Man About Town of his quickly-blossoming musical career. The reality the Bristolian is living now – a singer-songwriter with a record deal under Universal, two singles to his name and a fan base quickly accruing – might look quite different from his pre-pandemic day-to-day spent grafting on building sites. But, all roads have led him to this moment. “Those early mornings really shaped me as a person and gave me huge work ethic and resilience to always push forward and never give up,” he continues. “I wouldn’t change them for the world.” And in many ways, construction and composition went hand in hand – he says some of his best work was written on sites. “I should’ve probably been doing more work.”

His attention, now, exclusively placed on his craft, Sanders has recently followed up debut single “Garden Of England” with vividly introspective cut, “Heroes Wall”, a continuation of his knack for cultivating expansive sonic worlds via sparse production and the all-encompassing power of his time-stopping vocal and power behind the pen. Charting the no-mans land and precarity of coming of age, “I’m here on my own / I’ve changed my tone / Friends too weak to lift their phone,” he sings plaintively in its verse.

However, his evolution into the fully-formed, authoritative musical voice he’s now become sees him only laying ground for a long, fruitful future ahead. A word-of-mouth live success in his native Bristol, Sanders has since landed in the studio with the likes of Flyte and Declan McKenna (co-writer of “Heroes Wall”), plus established a production relationship with Catherine Marks (boygenius, Wolf Alice, Foals) – all alchemic relationships primed for bringing his timeless craft to the masses.

Below, he chats crafting the single, embracing life’s imperfections, his ideal Bristol day out and his dream venue to showcase his talents…

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Hey Mitch! “Heroes Wall” is a poignant, stirring account of coming-of-age and navigating what life throws at you. How do you feel when you listen to it/play it now?
⁠Thank you! It does feel different, it feels like I’m starting to tell more of a story and expressing different topics further. I’m really proud of this song and so happy it’s starting to resonate with people.

It’s probably my favourite song to play live as it makes me feel nostalgic every time I sing it. It’s like each time I perform it, the same picture gets painted in my head. It’s like a massive time-lapse and takes me back to when I was a little kid right through to the age I am now.

You mentioned, when discussing the track, that you don’t believe in the idea that everything in life needs to be perfect – humans mess up after all. Can you tell us more about how this informs your mindset? Have there been experiences which have brought that idea home for you?
⁠⁠This is something I have settled on recently and it’s given me a lot of confidence to know that we’re all not perfect so it’s okay to sound as humanly possible as you can. Being in the studio, I find that those little imperfections sometimes really give the songs their own uniqueness and that’s where I feel most excited. For me, that’s how you know there’s some form of authenticity to what you’re doing, when you impose your personality on it and not compromise human nature for perfection.

You’re a proud Bristolian! We’ve got 12 hours in Bristol together — what are the itinerary essentials?
⁠⁠We’d meet up for breakfast in my local cafe in the morning. Line our stomachs! Then spend the days heading out to various locations. The great thing about Bristol is there’s a totally different experience in every part of the town. We’d go in all the best pubs like The Mothers Ruin, The Bank, Old Duke, meeting loads of funny characters and friends along the way. Before heading to The Lanes, a real melting pot for the music scene in Bristol, it really shaped me as a young musician coming through that place. I met some of the best people there! To finish the day/night we would land in Mr Wolfs, a Bristol institution perfect for saying goodbye to the night.