Stef Chura – Lovesick & Thunder and Lightning

Detroit-based singer-songwriter Stef Chura presents two new singles “Lovesick” and “Thunder and Lightning” off her highly anticipated upcoming album Dancing Alone on the Concrete, out October 2nd on Saddle Creek.

“Lovesick” is not a song about being in love with someone. Speaking on the song, Chura said, “It’s about desiring love and the journey to being lovable. It’s also about a toxic love and how it can feel addictive to want to be with someone who’s bad for you.” Moreso, she realized that, “I knew that this person made me feel bad yet I still wanted more of their attention.”

About “Thunder and Lightning,” Chura says “Sometimes jealousy can turn into curiosity. Instead of becoming anxious I became a little more observant of the situation. And maybe in some ways this song was a way of having a little control over a situation I did not feel in control of.”

These singles give more insight into what Stef Chura’s life has been in the last seven years since she released Midnight, her most recent album. In that time, she broke off an engagement, left Detroit, gave birth to her first child, and returned to Detroit. But the true experience that gives the album its thematic and aesthetic shape is more simple than that: while Chura was writing the songs that would eventually become Dancing Alone on the Concrete, she practiced the piano and the guitar a whole lot and she went on dates.

Chura went to Athens’ Chase Park Transduction studio to record Dancing Alone on the Concrete, teaming up with producer Robert Schenider of Apples in Stereo, engineers, and session musicians David Barbe (Sugar) and Andy LeMaster (Now It’s Overhead), who played nearly as big a role in shaping the album as Schneider. They enlisted R.E.M.’s Peter Buck and Mike Mills, who contributed to lead single “Danny.” Also joining the party were Neutral Milk Hotel’s Scott Spillane and Olivia Tremor Control’s John Fernandes.

Stef Chura’s been through a lot in the last seven years. Maybe you’ve been through similar things. If you haven’t, it’s likely you will soon; everyday difficulty is the primary source here. It’s clear that the songs on Dancing Alone on the Concrete come from a place of pain and confusion, that their genesis is in various forms of suffering—you can feel it. As Chura says, they’re about the search for love. And while they never quite arrive there, the rightful object of her affection is right there in every song, in the form of the person singing them.

Stef Chura Tour Dates (all dates w/ Dinosaur Jr.)
Fri. Oct. 9 – Las Vegas, NV @ Brooklyn Bowl
Sat. Oct. 10 – Tempe, AZ @ Marquee Theatre
Sun. Oct. 11 – Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up
Thu. Oct. 15 – Anaheim, CA @ House of Blues
Fri Oct. 16- Los Angeles, CA @ Bellwether
Sun. Oct. 18 – San Francisco, CA @ The Castro Theatre
Tue. Oct. 20 – Sacramento, CA @ Ace of Spades
Thu. Oct. 22 – Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall
Fri. Oct. 23 – Seattle, WA @ Neptune
Sat. Oct. 24 – Seattle, WA @ Neptune
Mon. Oct. 26 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Complex
Thu. Oct. 29 – Denver, CO @ Ogden
Fri. Oct. 30 – Fort Collins, CO @ Washington’s
Mon. Nov. 2 – Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater
Wed. Nov. 4 – Houston, TX @ House of Blues
Thu. Nov. 5 – Austin, TX @ Stubbs
Fri. Nov. 6 – San Antonio, TX @ Paper Tiger
Sat. Nov. 7 – New Orleans, LA @ Tipitina’s

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