Showbox Presents Michelle Chamuel

Tue, Dec 2, 2014 at 8pm

  • All Ages (Bar w/ ID)
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Showbox Presents

Michelle Chamuel

Some albums are like homes: they arrive ready to be lived in - headphones like house keys, songs opening up like rooms - providing a soundtrack to the act of living. Fortunately for audiences, Michelle Chamuel’s debut album, Face The Fire,is move-in ready. Set for release in early 2015, the full-blown pop opus inverts pop conventions while refining them, thanks to hand-crafted production, precise songwriting and an exuberance that could jumpstart a stopped heart. From the moment Chamuel made her television debut on season 4 of The Voice, the bespectacled singer from Massachusetts charmed audiences and pop stars alike with her soulful covers. While some may have leapt at the chance, Chamuel was initially wary of the realities (no pun intended) of submitting to a reality television show, she soon found a place for herself on team Usher and ended up taking home 2nd place. “I went to the show looking for a teacher and it turned out Usher was looking for a student” says the 28-year-old Chamuel. “I was craving the challenges and rewards of being part of a top musical community, and I found that on The Voice.” By time she took The Voice stage in 2013, Chamuel had spent the better part of a decade fronting the seven-piece Michigan rock band, Ella Riot (formerly My Dear Disco). In the band, Chamuel cut her performer teeth touring around the country 200 days a year, releasing several albums, and learning to drive a tour bus that ran on waste vegetable oil. Eventually the fuel ran out, Ella Riot parted ways in 2012, and Chamuel returned to Massachusetts in search of home and solitude. From here, she began working on self-produced tracks under the moniker, The Reverb Junkie - “I wanted to create my own vision from start to finish,” says Chamuel. “The band was such a great collaborative experience, but when it was over, I realized I hadn't ever tried making music on my own or developing what that sounded like.” For Chamuel, the drive to create music began with a feeling. From a young age, Chamuel would find herself taken by the emotion a piece of music was conveying, and spent hours attempting to replicate the sound that induced that feeling. “For me, singing is about resonating,” says Chamuel. “If I feel an emotion in a song, I want to resonate it in my entire self - by singing.” The effect is songs like beacons, broadcasting the emotional frequency Chamuel effortlessly transmits. Considering all the emotion contained within it, Face The Fire came together at a breakneck pace, the function of Chamuel’s talent and the musical connection she shares with the album’s collaborators Tyler Duncan and Theo Katzman, college pals and My Dear Disco band members. For three weeks this past winter, the trio holed up in Chamuel’s home, building songs out of the nuggets each brought to the sessions. The album’s title track serves as a sort of mission statement, a vamping call to action that Chamuel relates to her own experience in harnessing musical passion. “Money” is equal parts sound collage and infectious kiss-off, Chamuel issuing a biting indictment with a sunny bounce. As is the case with many of the tracks on Chamuel’s solo debut, “Lottery” manages multiple emotions at once, opening with a pulse that’s both anxious and hopeful until Chamuel’s voice breaks open over shimmering synths and dime-stop drums. “[Lottery] is in disguise. Underneath, there's a sadness that comes with celebrating something desperate - but it's blanketed by the euphoria of potentially winning it all and being alive enough to take that chance.” Most important to Chamuel are her listeners and creating a world for them. “I try to create in a way that no matter who you are, you can listen to the music and process your own experiences through it.” Chamuel's drive to create comes from the desire to provide this space for the listener. “For as long as I can remember, I've been searching for the place where I feel an unequivocal sense of belonging. Music is that for me, as I know it is for many others. It's my goal to bring music into the world that people can resonate with – where they can live inside and feel at home.” Chamuel will be touring the album this fall during the month-long Turn It Up Tour, which begins November 2014. - bio by Lauren Harris

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$18.50 ADV / $20 DOS // 8PM DOORS // All Ages (Bar w/ ID)


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