Posts Tagged ‘Chorusgirl’

CHORUSGIRL – ” Shimmer And Spin “

Posted: December 24, 2018 in MUSIC
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Chorusgirl’s second album Shimmer And Spin, is a record that emerged from the darkness of insecurity to become an anchor in the gloom. The record was written at a time when, at almost every turn, things seemed to get worse for the band; from family illness, through anxiety and the end of their previous record label, somehow Chorusgirl managed to scramble and create a record that not only managed to exist, but to thrive and push their music into new and fascinating directions.

As opening lines go, “there’s always someone else who looks more popular or clever it’s true, more confident than anyone, but certainly not better than you”, is an undeniably intriguing place to begin, and that’s where Chorusgirl began on the sublime, In Dreams. Much of Shimmer And Spin continues in a similar vein, laced with self-doubt and insecurity, yet fighting against them, battling to believe in yourself, to believe your dreams are worthy of pursuit. It’s not a battle always won, sometimes life overwhelms; there’s moments of resignation, as on Stuck, when Silvi sings, “the future, turned past now, well it was never ours”, and moments where self-doubt takes control, as they sing on Not Yours, “my brain keeps broadcasting clips of doom, my introversion is strong”. If lyrically it was a record of personal reflection, musically it was a bold step into new musical territory, the glistening guitars more sharp and shimmering, the rhythm section more solid and creative, the newly discovered vocal harmonies, a subtly perfect.  There’s one particular moment on Shimmer And Spin, we find we just keep coming back to, a brief perfect collection of just a few seconds, it comes just short of three minutes into Stuck, as Silvi sings, “stuck in my mind, stuck for all time”, and for just maybe 20 seconds all sense of control is lost; the guitars become an overwhelming rush of feedback, the drums a clattering chaos, and beneath it all, the perfect bass-line pins it together, carrying on as if nothing had even changed, then as quickly as it arrived it is all gone. You almost have to rewind to check it actually happened, yet it did and it has the same effect listen after listen after listen. Shimmer And Spin is a record that emerged from the darkest of places to glisten and sheen, a triumphant celebration of just about getting through, a record even better than we ever thought it could be.

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Released November 16th, 2018

Demon Baby and Love is Like written by Faith Taylor
Other songs written by Silvia Wersing

 

CHORUSGIRL – ” Shimmer and Spin “

Posted: December 20, 2018 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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With the release of Shimmer and Spin, the second album by London-based janglers Chorusgirl. A record that chronicled a particularly difficult year in the life of chief songwriter Silvi Wersing, and in some ways served as an anchor, through which she was able to pull herself through.

Ahead of the album’s release, the band have this week shared the video to new single, In Dreams. The track is musically something of a departure for the band, the underrated rhythm section are to the fore, with prominent bass and a frankly brilliant drum beat creating a base around which skeletal guitar lines and vocal melodies flourish and bloom. If musically it’s Chorusgirl as you’ve never heard them before, lyrically it’s something of a companion piece to an older track, This Town Kills. It deal with small town anxieties and the power of dreaming to inspire you to escape a place you never fit in. As Silvi sings, “Sunday afternoon forever, waiting for the brighter weather, rainy doom and gloom forever inside this small town torment”, it’s the sound of staring out the window, lost in your own thoughts, knowing one day you’ll find a way to belong. It’s accompanied by an excellent handmade video courtesy of animator Ruth Barrett, created using over 2500 manually cut out paper prints. More challenging, more intriguing, more themselves than ever, Chorusgirl might just be turning a tumultuous year into a musical triumph.

Shimmer and Spin is out 16th November via Reckless Records 

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CHORUSGIRL – ” Shimmer and Spin “

Posted: September 16, 2018 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Rewind to 2015 and things were going swimmingly for Chorusgirl; they’d just released their debut album on the wonderful indie-pop label, Fortuna Pop, their debut single, Oh To Be A Defector was playing on the BBC6Music playlist and critics were queuing up to throw praise in their direction. Then as they returned to the studio, things didn’t go quite as easily as they hoped, as songwriter Silvi Wersing puts it, “there was barely a month without bad news on a personal and wider level”. Despite those difficulties (label ending, personal struggles, political uncertainty), the second Chorusgirl album got made, and as anxieties spiked, perhaps it was the album that pulled Silvi through, “we were hacking and honing away at the songs for months, trying to craft some sort of sculpture of our state of mind”.

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The second Chorusgirl album, “Shimmer And Spin”, will arrive on new label home Reckless Yes Records later this year, and ahead of its release, the band have this week shared the first track from it, “No Goodbye”. As is the case with much of the finest music, No Goodbye is not a track that wears its difficulties obviously. There’s a fizz and a playfulness to the music, that fans of the bands will be pleased to hear intact. From the opening salvo of snare drums and jangling guitar chords, it rattles along at impressive pace, even the the more sparse sections are punctuated by prominent bass-notes that maintain the songs impressive flow. There’s even room for a just short of ludicrous guitar solo towards the end, with a slight nod to The Wave Pictures, adding to the whole, frankly joyous experience. The track’s lyrics seem to be at odds with the sprightly music, there’s a personal quality to the words, a puzzle with some pieces missing, yet there’s a sense of wanting to escape from both your own expectations and those of others. Throughout Silvi seems to be trying to slip out the door, as she repeats regularly, “you know that I’ll leave no goodbye”. By all accounts, Shimmer And Spin, was a difficult record to make, from the sound of No Goodbye it was well worth the effort.

releases November 16th, 2018

Demon Baby and Love is Like written by Faith Taylor
Other songs written by Silvia Wersing 

Shimmed And Spin is out November 16th via Reckless 

CHORUSGIRL – ” Dream On, Baby Blue “

Posted: January 2, 2016 in MUSIC
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Chorusgirl started out as the solo project of Silvi Wersing, now expanded to a four piece band. Their self-titled, debut album, recorded over three years, took inspiration from the likes of The Dum-Dum Girls, The Breeders and Vivian Girls. It was the sound of Silvi stepping out of the shadows and into the limelight, it also had a few guitar lines that sounded a bit like The Shadows thrown in for good measure.

From the geniusly catchy-pop of lead single, Oh To Be A Defector, to the brooding Jesus & Mary Chain-like Shivers and the scuzzy tribute to a teenage best friend, Girls Of 1926, this was an album that shaped the band’s influences into something timeless, but also surprisingly on trend in 2015. A stunning album, packed with fascinating ideas, polished production and more than enough wonderful tunes, it was a record that far exceeded expectations and was one of the finest debuts of the year.

“Dream On, Baby Blue” is taken from Chorusgirl’s debut album, which is due out on Fortuna POP! on 13 November. As singer Silvi Wersing explains it is; “mostly about feeling powerless and small and the demands that others make on you to speak up, but that there can also be beauty and dignity in silence if you just stay who you are. ”

The brainchild of German songwriter, singer and rhythm guitarist Silvi Wersing, Chorusgirl blend the shimmering dreaminess of 4AD bands like Lush, the noir pop of The Cure and the bittersweet electricity of The Breeders across ten songs that sparkle with melody and pop nous but are stealthily subverted by something darker.

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CHORUS GIRL – ” Dream On Baby Blue “

Posted: November 19, 2015 in MUSIC
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Its easy to pertain to a certain kind of cold, detached dreaminess you’d associate with a label like 4AD Records in its prime: their overall sound being seemingly informed by Lush’s successful hybrid of classic pop, fiery punk and shimmering soundscapes.Yet, rather than reliving a sound there’s a sense here that Chorusgirl are more intent on reinventing it. Look no further than their debut self-titled LP for conviction.

It’s not all saccharine pop melodies, however, and Chorusgirl subvert to something far darker here. Album closer “Whiteout” counteracts some of the more accessible moments with its funereal dirge. “Sweetness And Slight” has the trademark Spector-esque intro the likes of The Jesus And Mary Chain had a famed propensity for, and there are noir-pop facets that you could liken to numerous bands of yore all over this debut, such as the melodic darkness of The Cure, and without tediously bracketing them in with other bands with female members like most music writers are too often guilty of, there is a marked quality on tracks like opener “Oh To Be A Defector” and “No Moon” that shares a subtle likeness with The Breeders’ bittersweet wildness.

As a whole, this record is unfailing in its approach to perfect pop not devoid of malevolence, and in that respect it’s refreshing to hear an indiepop band in 2015 that don’t just rely on an inoffensive ability to jangle and create retro pop songs. As far as stand-out moments go, “Girls Of 1926” prevails where “We Care About You”’s passiveness might elude you. It’s cohesive enough to be an enduring debut, and flows like something iconic.

Although it’s far too easy to let nostalgia distort your perception of a band like Chorusgirl, it’s best to listen to them as a band defined by the here and now, as opposed to continuously drawing sonic comparisons. Bands will always look to the past for inspiration for their own development; it’s just a structural feature of pop culture. Now it’s all about reinvention rather than replicating a sound, and by coalescing various influences and styles Chorusgirl have the balance just about right.