San Francisco Shoegaze X Grunge Pop Act Chokecherry
Announce Debut EP Messy Star for October 25, 2024
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. Pre-save it here.
chokecherry have been steadily building a buzz since meeting on the dating app Hinge. The San Francisco Gate praised chokecherry’s “blend of white-hot shoegaze,” calling it “the modern sound of the California sun vaporizing the San Francisco fog.” Clark and Levinson may not have worked out on the romantic front, but the pair are clearly musical soulmates and it’s beautiful thing to witness and hear.
Today, the band shares the visualizer for the title track. Watch it here.
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!
MESSY STAR EP TRACK LISTING:
“No Other Place”
“Afterglow“
“Messy Star”
“I Know You”
“Mirror Mirror”
Chokecherry will capture the hearts of rock fans everywhere with songs that boast thick, ’70s-inspired bass lines laden with strategically placed howls and hums. Their passionate, hypnotic delivery overflows and fills into every word, allowing vulnerability that listeners can truly attach to. If their Spotify streams —2.8 million global streams and counting — are any indication of how many music fans will dig what chokecherry are putting down, then it’s time for 2024 to buckle the F up.
