It has been a long, long time since the Detroit indie rock singer-songwriter Stef Chura last released an album — seven years, in fact, since she worked with Car Seat Headrest frontman Will Toledo to make Midnight. A lot has happened in Chura’s life since then, and now she’s unveiling her new LP Dancing Alone On The Concrete, which she recorded with the assistance of a great many indie rock OGs.
The press release for Dancing Alone On The Concrete outlines some of the stuff that Stef Chura has done since 2019, at least some of which was pandemic-related. She got out of a long-term relationship and started dating again. She became a mom. She left Detroit for New Orleans, and then she left New Orleans for Detroit again. But while she was living in New Orleans, she headed off to Athens, Georgia, an important place for entire generations of American indie rockers, and she made Dancing Alone On The Concrete with the Apples In Stereo frontman Robert Schneider producing.
The Apples In Stereo are part of Athens’ long-running Elephant 6 collective, and various other Elephant 6 members, like the Olivia Tremor Control’s John Fernandez and Neutral Milk Hotel’s Scott Spillane, also play on the record. Two session musicians also had huge impacts on the record: David Barbe, from Bob Mould’s recently reunited ’90s trio Sugar, and Now It’s Overhead mastermind Andy LeMaster. The two of them also recruited Peter Buck and Mike Mills, fully one half of R.E.M., to play on lead single “Danny.”
You can hear that classic Buck/Mills interplay at work on “Danny,” which also has laid-back horn bursts that recall past moments of Elephant 6 studio experimentation. But the song’s main focus is Stef Chura’s voice. She sings a spirited ode to a romantic missed connection while the music ripples all around her. In a press release, Chura says:
Robert [Schneider] was like “Wouldn’t this sound great with Mike Mills playing bass on it? So he called him up, and he and Mike Mills and Peter Buck ended up playing on that song just from shooting the shit…
I met someone who was traveling through New Orleans. We had an instant rapport and an easy chemistry, and it reminded me what excitement could feel like. I wrote “Danny” as an ode to the fantasy of meeting someone who could sweep me off my feet when I felt like I needed rescuing. He invited me to a party, but I stayed home and watched the clock tick instead. Afterwards, I couldn’t stop imagining the version of myself who had gone, who had seized the moment.
Below, check out “Danny,” as well as the Dancing Alone On The Concrete tracklist and the dates for the upcoming tour where Chura will open for Dinosaur Jr.
TRACKLIST:
01 “Leadweight”
02 “The Concrete”
03 “Babydoll”
04 “Lovesick”
05 “Wishin'”
06 “Thunder And Lightning”
07 “Danny”
08 “Be My Hound”
09 “Heavy Hitter”
TOUR DATES:
6/24 – Lansing, MI @ Grewal Hall at 224 *
10/09 – Las Vegas, NV @ Brooklyn Bowl *
10/10 – Tempe, AZ @ Marquee Theatre *
10/11 – Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up *
10/15 – Anaheim, CA @ House of Blues *
10/16- Los Angeles, CA @ Bellwether *
10/18 – San Francisco, CA @ The Castro Theatre *
10/20 – Sacramento, CA @ Ace of Spades *
10/22 – Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall *
10/23 – Seattle, WA @ Neptune *
10/24 – Seattle, WA @ Neptune *
10/26 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Complex *
10/29 – Denver, CO @ Ogden *
10/30 – Fort Collins, CO @ Washington’s *
11/02 – Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater *
11/04 – Houston, TX @ House of Blues *
11/05 – Austin, TX @ Stubbs *
11/06 – San Antonio, TX @ Paper Tiger *
11/07 – New Orleans, LA @ Tipitina’s *
* with Dinosaur Jr.
Dancing Alone On The Concrete is out 10/2 on Saddle Creek. Pre-order it here.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source stereogum.com ’
