Stef Chura – “Degrees” (Feat. Will Toledo)

Stef Chura – “Degrees” (Feat. Will Toledo)

Detroit DIY rocker Stef Chura turned a lot of heads with last year’s Messes, her excellent debut album. She’s currently hard at work on its follow-up, and she’s already found a producer: none other than Car Seat Headrest’s Will Toledo.

That album is still a ways off, but the duo are giving us a taste of their collaboration with a new limited edition 7-inch for Record Store Day. The A-side is “Degrees,” a contemplative song that flares up into an epic classic-rock rave-up when the chorus hits. Toledo produces and plays guitar, bass, and organ, and you can read Stef Chura’s account of their team-up below.

I met Will Toledo in 2016 when we did some touring together with Car Seat Headrest. We chatted at the Empty Bottle in Chicago at our first show and he told me that he found my music on Tumblr via an article that compared us to each other. He invited us on a couple of tours that year before Messes was out and before we had a label or booking agent or release plans or any “stuff.” In May of 2017 we ran into each other again at the Empty Bottle. Will was mixing Twin Fantasy and came out to our gig there with the engineer he’d been working with. He invited us to the studio to check out the record the next day. When we stopped by Will had finished mixing early and asked us if we had anything going on recording-wise. I said I have a couple of songs that got cut from Messes I want to record for a 7-inch and he was like “Cool, wanna record them right now? I’ll play bass.”

Listen.

“Degrees” b/w “Sour Honey” is out as a limited edition 7-inch (1000 copies) on Record Store Day, 4/21. It’s out digitally 4/20 with pre-order available here.

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