Stef Chura
“Danny”
Saddle Creek (available via Bandcamp)
It’s very easy to fall in love with Stef Chura.
She’s got charisma and swagger on stage. There’s conviction in her voice, too. I can believe every line she’s singing via her earnest power-pop yodel. Her press release really got it right when they described her voice as “muted trumpet” that’s “brassy but contained.”
The emotion is all there – the yearning, the longing, the blur of dates that informed her first project in seven years, “Dancing Alone on the Concrete,” out this week on Saddle Creek. It was produced by Apples in Stereo's Robert Schneider.
I got the chance to listen to her new eight-song album in full ahead of its release. The song that caught my ear the most was “Danny.” This is partially because of the songwriting and partially due to the heavyweights she got to play on this track.
Recording in Athens, Georgia, at the Chase Park Transduction studio, Chura was able to link up with R.E.M.'s Peter Buck and Mike Mills, who both play on “Danny.” (Speaking of Athens, there are cameos from members of the Olivia Tremor Control and Neutral Milk Hotel here, too).
When you’ve got half of R.E.M. playing on your song, it’s truly hard not to channel a bit of Michael Stipe in your vocal delivery – and Chura does. This song, however, is a bit more direct lyrically than anything Stipe laid down.
Please don’t ask me to chase you
All the way to New York City
I might, if it means
That you won’t forget me
I don't wanna fade away”
This one is definitely for fans of Mitski and Angel Olsen with a bit more twang and angst. It’s Stef Chura performing at the underwater-themed prom in some David Lynch-ian cinematic universe where her band is the special guest star. It’s a stand out on her new album that’s filled with gentle power-pop gems.
