Break Mirrors is Blake Mills' debut solo album, but for the 23-year-old Los Angeles native, it's just the latest step in a remarkable musical career that has seen everyone from Kid Rock to Cass McCombs solicit his services as a guitarist.

Mills' trip began with Simon Dawes, the young L.A. rock outfit he formed with his childhood pal Taylor Goldsmith. They made an album, Carnivore, and eventually shared stages with some of the biggest bands in America, cranking out a fresh yet classic sound the Los Angeles Times called "exhilarating."

After his collaboration with Goldsmith ran its course, Mills moved into the next phase of his career, as sideman to the stars. He moved quickly, too: In only a few short years Mills has become one of the most in-demand session guitarists in all of Los Angeles, touring with Cass McCombs, Jenny Lewis, Band of Horses and Julian Casablancas and recording with Weezer, Kid Rock, Jakob Dylan , Andrew Bird, and Jesca Hoop, among others.

"When it comes to playing guitar for other people," he says, "…a lot of my dreams have already come true."

Now Mills is taking center stage with a set of tunes that reflect that extraordinary wealth of experience. Recorded in casual bursts between other gigs over the course of much of 2009, Break Mirrors strikes a perfect balance between talent and tastefulness: You won't miss Mills' impressive playing—check out the fuzzy slide guitar solo on "Hiroshima," for starters—but what sticks with you is his songwriting, which hits a bittersweet coming-of-age note.