Chokecherry – Messy Star
San Francisco shoe gaze x grunge pop trio chokecherry — comprised of vocalist/guitarist Izzie Clark and bassist/vocalist E. Scarlett Levinson, along with drummer Abri Crocitto — are thrilled to announce the October 25 release of Messy Star, their debut EP for Fearless Records.
Today, the band shares the visualizer for the title track, “Messy Star.”
The track marks the final pre-release single from the EP. It’s a powerful, cathartic track with an experimental, alt twist and takes influence from some unexpected sources. The accompanying video follows the story of a star that is burning out. It’s the band’s commentary on the destructive effect that celebrity culture can wreak on artists.
“From the moment we started writing this song, it felt like a journey,” the band says. “It began as a heavier shoegaze track, but when we took it into the studio with producer Zach Tuch, he pushed us to experiment with a trip-hop style beat in the verses. This creative choice took the song to a whole new level and gave it such a unique feeling. The format of ‘Messy Star’ and its departure from our usual method of only using live instruments broadened the feeling of the track and pushed it to a more experimental place. This track is our first incorporation of samples, playing on our shared love for artists like Massive Attack and Radiohead.”
Vocally, the song takes inspiration the likes of Mannequin Pussy and Lana Del Rey, with its mix of sultry coos and melodic yelling.
The band continues, “The track still felt like a journey, but instead of simply a long drive now, it felt like crawling out from the underworld into heaven itself. The chorus breaks into an entirely new world than the one the verses occupy. It turns from strange trip hop grunge to a more classic heavy shoegaze track with angelic vocals.”
Regarding the video, chokecherry explain, “It touches on themes of feeling seen and scrutinized, wanting things other people have (or even wanting to be someone else), and the desire to break away from stardom and the feeling of being watched and perceived. The ‘supernova’ lyric is a reference to musicians and stars ‘burning out’ like we have seen in contemporary celebrity culture.”
They say it’s better to burn out than fade away, but chokecherry thinks that there’s something better than BOTH burning out and fading away. We just have to find out what, exactly, “that” is!
#chokecherry4ever