LISTEN TO “METHOD MAN”
https://youtu.be/tJUUyhQAzRY
PRE-ORDER MIDNIGHT
StefChura.lnk.to/Midnight
“For most people who create art I would assume there is some kind of deep unanswerable hole in your soul as to why you’re making it…” So says Stef Chura ahead of the release of Midnight, her gritty, vehement new album, recorded and produced by Will Toledo of Car Seat Headrest – and her first new collection of songs for Saddle Creek, out June 7th. Illuminating that search for answers with a fevered sense of exploration, Midnight is a bold leap forward from Messes, Stef’s contagious debut album, with every aspect of her new work finding bold ways to express itself as it rips through twelve restless and relentless new tracks. She also shares the first single, “Method Man, ” a boisterous three-minutes that melds jagged, skewed guitars with a distinctive voice that has a new-found sense of confidence while touching on a vulnerable moment in Stef’s life. She also announces a North American tour in support of the new album. She explains “Method Man” below:
A long time ago I was pondering the literal words “Method Man” while listening to Wu-Tang. There was a person in my life that I had a confusing array of emotions for, sometimes I was in love with him, I admired and looked up to him, I thought of him as superior to me. He was older than me and I was a teenager. At that age I experienced a titanic amount of anxiety that usually expressed itself as silence.
This song was born out of a total frustration regarding a man who seemed “methodical” to me. He was literate. He waxed poetic. Almost someone…how do I say this…that you wanted to be condescending to you? As long as they were talking to you. He drank a lot of energy drinks and had this overall outlook that no one understood him. That he was in on some kind of cosmic secret that I couldn’t get. He smoked so many cigs it stained his fingers yellow.
He was always talking, and I was so enamored with this person. I was always nervous to reply. He would go on and on for hours. He sometimes would look at me and be like “oh maybe you won’t get this…. maybe you don’t get this.” I was too terrified to say much.
A couple of years on from the release of Messes, Stef is still based in Detroit, that most singular city which has seen it all, from the no-mans-land of its initial collapse through to the resurgent place it is now. Stef found inspiration from the people she surrounded with herself with, more so than the place itself. It’s no surprise that Midnight is testament to those kind of characteristics; a rugged and robust burst of defiance. “I’m usually dealing with the context of what I can’t say or haven’t said,” Stef says. “A kind of spiritual bondage that I would say most people, probably a lot of female bodied ones, put themselves through.”
Which is to say that if its predecessor was a raw, somewhat unadorned document of Stef’s work, then Midnight is the muscular, swaggering evolution. “This album has a depth to it and a particular sound because of Will,” Stef states regarding Toledo’s input, whose spiky nuances can be found across the length and breadth of Midnight, the record presenting an exhilarating rush of sound and color as Stef’s spirited vocal finds and signature guitar sounds unravel alongside in a thrilling meeting of ideas and influences; dispelling demons, song by song.
Equal parts thrilling and angsty, Midnight is a testament to the collaborative process, a record that makes the very most of those who came together to make it, but more than that, it’s a firm statement of tenacity and perseverance, of not resting on your laurels but leaping forwards no matter the situation you find yourself in. From out of one day and into the next.
MIDNIGHT TRACKLISTING
1. All I Do is Lie
2. Scream
3. Degrees
4. Method Mad
5. Trumbull
6. Jumpin’ Jack
7. Sincerely Yours
8. 3D Girl
9. Sweet Sweet Midnight
10. Love Song
11. They’ll Never
12. Eyes Without a Face
STEF CHURA TOUR DATES
Tue. April 23 – Ann Arbor, MI @ Blind Pig
Fri. July 5 – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
Sat. July 6 – Detroit, MI @ Deluxx Fluxx
Sun. July 7 – Toronto, ON @ The Drake
Mon. July 8 – Montreal, QC @ Casa del Popolo
Tue. July 9 – Boston, MA @ Great Scott
Fri. July 12 – Brooklyn, NY @ Rough Trade
Sat. July 13 – Philadelphia, PA @ PhilaMOCA
Mon. July 15 – Washington, DC @ Comet Ping Pong
Tue. July 16 – Durham, NC @ The Pinhook
Wed. July 17 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
Fri. July 19 – New Orleans, LA @ Gasa Gasa
Sat. July 20 – Houston, TX @ The Satellite
Sun. July 21 – Austin, TX @ The Mohawk
Mon. July 22 – Dallas, TX @ Regal Room
Thu. July 25 – Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar
Fri. July 26 – San Diego, CA @ Sodabar
Sat. July 27 – Los Angeles, CA @ Bootleg Theatre
Sun. July 28 – San Francisco, CA @ Cafe du Nord
Tue. July 30 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
Wed. July 31 – Seattle, WA @ Barboza
Thu. Aug. 1 – Vancouver, BC @ Biltmore Cabaret
Fri. Aug. 2 – Spokane, WA @ Lucky You Lounge
Sat. Aug. 3 – Boise, ID @ Neurolux
Mon. Aug. 5 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
Tue. Aug. 6 – Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge
Wed. Aug. 7 – Omaha, NE @ Reverb
Fri. Aug. 9 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
Sat. Aug. 10 – Milwaukee, WI @ Backroom at Colectivo
PRAISE FOR MESSES
“Detroit indie rocker Stef Chura has the kind of magnetic voice that music writers fall into ditches attempting to describe” – Pitchfork
“Her music recalls the propulsive, pop-driven rock of icons like Liz Phair and Hole; her conversational, confessional lyrics add a touch of folksiness.” – NPR Music
“In Messes, you can hear the idea that DIY rock music can be as warm and friendly and melodic as any other kind of music.” – Stereogum
“there are a bunch of reasons you should pay attention to the grunge pop songstress.”
– Noisey
“A major highlight on the record is Chura’s voice, which is prone to breathy, almost yodel-y stretches, and can take the simplest lyric and twist it into what sounds like a hundred knots until, suddenly, you realize that’s the chorus.” – MTV News
Midnight will be available digitally, on CD, cassette, black LP, and as a limited-edition LP pressed on glow-in-the-dark and midnight blue splattered vinyl (200 copies exclusive to the Saddle Creek Store).
Stef Chura Online:
http://stefchura.net/
https://stefchuraband.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/stefchuraband/
https://soundcloud.com/stefchura
https://twitter.com/stefchura
Keep your mind open.
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