| Last month, Church Chords announced their debut album, elvis, he was Schlager, set to release on February 23rd via Otherly Love Records. The collaborative recording project led by musician/producer Stephen Buono brings together accomplished musicians from his time spent in Philadelphia, New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles, to create music that honors experimentation and collaboration. Today, Church Chords returned to share “She Lays on a Leaf,” their avant-pop krautrock featuring guitar from Nels Cline (Wilco) and vocals by Finom‘s Macie Stewart and Sima Cunningham alongside Ricardo Dias Gomes (Caetano Veloso), who also penned the song’s lyrics. When asked about the track, Buono shared more about collaborating with Cline: “For this song, I asked Nels to imagine John McLaughlin playing the opening guitar solo on ”Mother Sky” by Can. I think the solo on the alternate version is one of his best on record. It is such an integral part of the song that I gave him writing credit. On the album version, I love how co-producer John Herndon synthesized the solo to sound like I don’t know what.” |
The story of elvis, he was Schlager, begins ca. 2016 in Chicago where Buono had relocated after four decades as a Philadelphia area resident, who frequently traveled to New York in his 20s & 30s soaking up the scenes at Tonic and The Village Vanguard. In Philly, in addition to his ubiquitous presence at a multitude of performances, Buono notably volunteered for the renowned avant garde presenter Ars Nova Workshop and put on his own live events at a series of West Philadelphia spaces. He also founded, wrote music for, and played guitar in the post-punk outfit, Split/Red, which BrooklynVegan called “Beefheart-ian….punk with an unbridled, avant-garde antagonism.”
Deeply embedded and inspired by the fertile music scene in the Windy City, where he moved at 38, he wanted his first Church Chords album to be fully Chicago-centric, using only locals. Buono oversaw a session at Steve Albini’s famed Electrical Audio that attempted to, as he puts it, “synthesize ‘electric-era’ Miles Davis with Black Sabbath.” A laudable experiment that he felt was ultimately a failure, opting to stick it in his back pocket for re-evaluation later on.
In Fall 2016 Buono relocated to Los Angeles and, a year to the day after his Electrical Audio session, dusted off the shelved material in a session with bassist Devin Hoff (Julia Holter, Sharon Van Etten), percussionist John Herndon, and multi-instrumentalist Ben Boye (Ty Segall, Bonnie “Prince” Billy). The trio laid down new rhythm tracks for six songs from the original session — a 35-minute continuous improvisation that changed the dynamic and structure of the work. In addition, Buono produced an additional 4 songs from tracks laid down by Chicagoan multihyphenate Jim Baker on ARP2000. Elliot Bergman (Wild Belle) produced one of these songs, “Recent Mineral” aka “Renda,” which has versions in both English and Portuguese.
For the next little while, Buono started massaging this mass of material into shape alongside co-producers in the vein of a hip-hop producer. As he did, more voices and players from an equally vibrant L.A. scene were folded into the proceedings. Among them, keyboardist Sam Barsh (Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar); guitarists Nels Cline, Jeff Parker (Tortoise), Mark Shippy (US Maple), Brandon Seabrook; horn player Josh Johnson (Leon Bridges’ musical director); percussionist Kenny Wollesen (Bill Frisell, Tom Waits); and Nate Walcott (a multi-instrumentalist known for his work with Bright Eyes, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Phoebe Bridgers).
It was at this point that Buono made some crucial decisions related to the album and the Church Chords project as a whole. The biggest was that he opted to lessen his contributions as a performer; to instead take on the role of a producer in the mode of Teo Macero or a member of Public Enemy’s Bomb Squad. He would be directing the sessions and helping finesse the finished product but otherwise staying out of the musicians’ way as they wrote lyrics and improvised.
As well, Buono decided early on that the material he was conceptualizing for elvis, he was Schlager needed vocals, and lyrics. Through his many connections in the community, he became friends with Ricardo Dias Gomes, a Brazilian artist who has worked with the likes of Caetano Veloso and Arto Lindsay. Initially, Gomes was going to contribute lyrics to a single song, but as he heard more of the music, he was inspired to write words for the majority of the tracks. Also making vital contributions were multi-instrumentalist/producer Matt Mehlan, who wrote “Warriors of Playtime,” a powerful song written in the wake of George Floyd’s murder; and old friend Kristin Slipp (Dirty Projectors, Mmeadows) who contributed words and vocals to “Alone, Under The Water” and several others.
Gomes, Slipp, and Mehlan’s lyrics were treated with immense care and compassion by the people Buono tapped to sing on elvis, he was Schlager. As with the rest of the album, the vocalists are an array of jaw-dropping talent from Genevieve Artadi, here singing in Portuguese for the first time on record, Brazilian Thalma de Freitas (Kamasi Washington, Madlib), electropop genius Takako Minekawa to L.A. dynamo zzzahara (the Simps) to the avant pop group Finom (f.k.a. Ohmme) to Ako Castuera, an artist who worked behind on Adventure Time.
The number of contributors and the storyline behind elvis, he was Schlager, is a little dizzying to comprehend. And it may sound like a recipe for a mess — a situation with too many cooks. But thanks to Buono’s steady hands guiding each step of the process, the album is a complete, cohesive statement. An exploratory, daring, and engaging expression of music’s transformative power. A mood piece that flows steadily and smoothly from vibe to vibe, guiding the listener through each melodic twist and rhythmic turn.
Keep your mind open.
[Lay your e-mail address on the subscription box while you’re here.]
[Thanks to Cody at Terrorbird Media.]
