On February 15, I received an email from the good folks over at Big Stir Records inviting me to listen to an album, Radio Transient, by a fellow named Chris Church. So I listened to it. And I liked what I heard—all ten songs—no problem with listening to this album. Apple Music tells me I listened to Radio Transient 7 times, back to back. 8 times now.
The words below give the partial story of what I heard. These are the quotes of Chris Church. The writer/s names are in parenthesis. The lyrics are in Italics. My words are underlined.
TRACKLIST:
1. GCRT (Chris Church) “young men who inexplicably park their cars and leave their stereos playing at extremely high volume, windows down or even doors open, and conduct their business inside the store while everyone outside has to deal with the heavy sub-bass thumping audio nightmare they’ve left unattended.”
“You think I want to feel it thumping my chest
As a species, you have helped us regress.”
2. Going ‘Til We Go (Chris Church), “Lindsey Buckingham, The Fixx, and ’80s Hall & Oates, 12-string Danelectro guitar, hollow body Gretsch guitar.
3. I Don’t Wanna Dance With Me (Music: Chris Church / Lyrics: Chris Church, Lori Franklin, Matthew Lutton) “I don’t wanna dance with ME, I wanna dance with you!”
4. One More Chance To Get Over You (Chris Church) “The most straight up power pop song here,” “Can I just get one more chance to get over you?”
5. I Think I Think I Like You (Chris Church) “He’s dealing with the fact that this emotion is sickening to him, but can’t fight it, and perhaps allowing himself to open up to his feelings will help him to open his mind to her art, or is he just horny?”
“You say you like me too much
Well, I do, too.”
6. Already In It (Chris Church) More Hall & Oates and Todd Rundgren than Buckingham/Fixx here, maybe even a bit of a Spandau Ballet/ABC/Duran new romantic feel on this one. “I’ll catch you when you’re starting to fall.” This line reminds me of a line I am fond of, “Whenever you fall, I’ll be there for you.” – The Floor. As a long-time Todd Rundgren fan, this song immediately grabbed my attention. I love how the singing and style of music come so close to his.
7. Over And Out (Chris Church) “The lyrics allude to trying to discourage and ignore the thoughtless, cruel and boring act of habitually gossiping about one another.” “Friends bombarded
Details, decrees
You’re on your throne, they’re at your feet. It’s what you started.”
Another great song about gossip is You Told Them Exactly What I Didn’t Say by
Terry Scott Taylor. https://genius.com/Daniel-amos-whos-who-here-lyrics
8. Gotta Go Gotta Ramble (Music: Chris Church / Lyrics: Chris Church, Lori Franklin) Chris tells us, “Lori and I have been together for almost 20 years. She’s my forever. She helped me write this song. It’s about breaking up and leaving. The protagonist is in such a hurry to split that he eschews grammar with the line, “there will never be no doubt.” “I feel the heat of the exit sign” is a pretty cool line. This one contains one of the better-sounding synthesizer tracks I recorded for it. I had fun with that.”
9. Far Too Late (Chris Church) “(Nick) Bertling’s drums are fantastic and really drive the song, and Lindsay Murray’s backing vocals play such an important role in the big picture.” The lyrics are pretty vague. Sometimes I do that on purpose. Or do I? You decide. Or not. Maybe this song is about the quest to finally be beyond all “that.”
10. Flip (Chris Church) “a weird little rocker about accepting fate.”
“Catch me
On the flip.”
Getting getting going
Only to be gone.”
“It’s also called “Flip,” so feel free to start all over and hit play again!”
I cut and pasted Chris’s lyrics and quotes and have contributed little original because Chris says it better than me. Radio Transient is a fun album with seriousness lurking just below the surface.
“The more we stick to it
Like we’re all having fun
The more we unglue it
And the further away we run.”
Big Stir Records are delighted to announce the March 24 release of Radio Transient, an all-new and breathtakingly original album from celebrated Lenoir, North Carolina, singer-songwriter Chris Church. Preceded by the lead single “Going ‘Til We Go,” the album will be on CD in record stores worldwide and streaming everywhere on March 24 and is up for pre-order at http://www.bigstirrecords.com, the BSR Bandcamp page, and online retailers now. Special thanks to Christina Bulbenko and Rex Broome at Big Stir Records.
For more about Chris Church:
http://www.bigstirrecords.com/chris-church
http://www.bigstirrecord.bandcamp.com
http://www.facebook.com/chrischurchmusic
http://www.chrischurch1.bandcamp.com
BIG STIR RECORDS
2140 N. Hollywood Way #6607, Burbank CA 91505 bigstrrecords@gmail.com – rexbroome@gmail.com www.bigstrrecords.com
p.s. 9 times now
Weathered Music 