BIG STIR RECORDS is delighted to announce the March 28 release of a brand new full-length album from widely-revered North Carolina indie rocker CHRIS CHURCH: OBSOLETE PATH. Featuring the just-released indie hit “Sit Down”, the upcoming single “She Looks Good In Black” and focus track “Life On A Trampoline”, it's Church's most accomplished and invigorating work yet, a standout even among an acclaimed catalog including the 2017 breakthrough Limitations Of Source Tape and his 2023 '80s-influenced masterwork Radio Transient. The CD edition is up for pre-order and OBSOLETE PATH can be pre-saved for streaming at:

https://orcd.co/chrischurch-op

Every CHRIS CHURCH album is unique, united only by the emotive firepower of his voice and his gift for memorable melodies and haunting lyrical turns of phrase. If there's any other throughline, it's Church's determination to explore one unique sound to its fullest potential across one set of songs, before his restless muse presents the next genre challenge for him to tackle. That's taken him from the pure power pop of Limitations Of Source Tape to the hard-rock “heavy melody” of Backwards Compatible (2020), the lo-fi immediacy of Game Dirt (2021), the spooky sludge rock of Darling Please (2022) and most recently Radio Transient. That watershed album virtually invents a genre of its own, one its creator dubbed “Buckingham-Fixx” for its marriage of sleek radio-friendly pop and jittery New Wave quirk, and it yielded Church his biggest hits yet on the global indie airwaves along with the expected critical accolades (landing on Year's Best albums lists from the US to the UK to France). Fans could only wonder what Chris would do next.

On the dazzling new OBSOLETE PATH, the answer turns out to be... almost everything he's done before and more, with every bit of the inventive freshness that has marked each outing to date. It would be misleading to call the new album “eclectic”; it's simply too coherent, purposeful and passionate to be viewed as a collection of genre exercises. What Chris Church does here is to bring together many of the musical strands he's pursued – the prior album's frantic '80s pop sound (on “Sit Down” and “I'm A Machine”), pop-flavored hard rock (“Running Right Back To You”), jangly alt-rock (“Life On A Trampoline”), sludgy grunge (“Like A Sucker”) and polished radio-ready popcraft (“I Don't Wanna Be There”) – and adds to them strains of the prog-leaning complexity (“Vice Versa”) and heartfelt country and folk rock with which he's always flirted. But the stamp Church has put on all these idioms across his deep back catalog insures that they all come home sounding like no one else: they belong together, all part of the same story and the unmistakable work of an inimitable artist.

It might come as a surprise that, for a southern singer-songwriter decades into his career, Americana-leaning rootsiness is one of Church's least-explored musical avenues, but his excursions onto that terrain shine on OBSOLETE PATH like never before. The record is bookended by two confessional singer-songwriter tunes, the title track and “What Are We Talking About”, each showcasing Chris at his intimate and visceral best. The pair of terrific country rockers on the record – “The Great Divide” and the single “She Looks Good In Black” with its unforgettable opening couplet “I had to let go of her hand/She left to see a Satanic band” – would be the envy of any band ever tagged as part of the No Depression movement. But it's on the disarmingly open and absolutely lovely “Tell Me What You Really Are” that all of the album's threads, musical and thematic, come together: written the night Chris met his now-wife (and the album's co-producer) Lori Franklin, it's waited nearly 20 years to be recorded and released, and stands as the centerpiece of OBSOLETE PATH.

Church's instinctive brilliance as a lyricist and crafter of often cryptic, sometimes humorous, always-compelling imagery can't go without a mention, and the songs and stories of OBSOLETE PATH find him at the height of his powers. The unifying lyrical concerns on the record are yet one more factor bringing the breathtaking array of sounds into complete harmony. “The theme of the album is, among other interpretations everyone is free to glean, the obstinance it can take to retain basic hope as one gets older and the world gets weirder,” Chris explains. “Realizing that hope and love are the only things worth fighting for comes with the knowledge that magic comes less often, if you don't fight to retain some of your innocence. It's not just about the inevitability of death, it's choosing a path that may seem to be becoming obsolete for the sake of your soul, no matter how old you are.”

“When you're bored of how your natural cynicism is telling you nothing matters, you have to decide if you're just going to let your heart check out,” Church continues. “I think part of what was on my mind for these songs is how to turn willful self-delusion into a workable scenario.” Helping him to realize that vision, in addition to c0-producer Franklin, are a trio of returning collaborators: backing vocalist Lindsay Murray (of Gretchen's Wheel) and in-demand mixing wizard Nick Bertling, both by now gloriously simpatico fixtures on Church's recordings, and drummer Brian Beaver from his prog-metal side-band Däng. With Chris handling all the other instrumental duties (save for power pop legend Bill Lloyd contributing mandolin the to co-written “Vice Versa”), the team of long-term collaborators provide a unifying sound to the diverse ambitions of the record.

The album, then, is the sound of an accomplished and widely-traveled artist bringing it all back home. It's also that rare work which, touching as it does on all of Chris Church's diverse influences, serves as both a career summation and an ideal introduction despite being completely, unmistakably and bracingly new and of its time. In short, it's a new high point in catalog already packed with modern classics. It's sure to leave longtime and freshly-minted fans completely satisfied, with only one familiar question left: after leading us up the OBSOLETE PATH, where will CHRIS CHURCH take us next?

With just weeks to go until the release of the latest album from CHRIS CHURCH , Big Stir Records brings you the second preview single: “She Looks Good In Black”, out March 14 on all streaming services worldwide. Like the prior standalone teaser track and indie hit “Sit Down”(out now), it will be accompanied by an Official Music Video during release week, setting the stage for the album OBSOLETE PATH at the month's end. The single is up for pre-order and pre-save now:

https://orcd.co/chrischurch-slgib

“She Looks Good In Black” bristles with the same emotive power and irresistible hooks as the other tunes on the breathtakingly diverse OBSOLETE PATH. Taking a step back from the intense rhythmic rush of “Sit Down”, the new tune's midtempo groove lets Chris's vocal – and the harmonies of Gretchen Wheel's Lindsay Murray which ornament so many tracks on the new album – truly shine. The song is classified by Church himself as “suggesting country rock”, its twang landing in the territory of Neil Young & Crazy Horse and harking back to the heyday of No Depression alt-country, but it communicates a giddy rush of early love in a way only Church could: the brilliant opening couplet “I had to let go of her hand / She left to see a Satanic band” is one for the ages, and the song boasts an equally unforgettable chorus.

Taken together, the rootsiness of “She Looks Good In Black” and the new wave-tinged pulse of “Sit Down” might suggest to longtime Chris Church followers that the revered North Carolina indie rocker is revisiting more than just one of his old musical haunts on the new record. They'd be completely correct in that assumption: in fact, the album digs back into not just Americana and the sleek '80s pop vibes of his most recent full-length record, 2023's critically-hailed Radio Transient, but also the pure power pop of his 2017 breakthrough Limitations Of Source Tape, the hard-rock “heavy melody” of Backwards Compatible (2020), the lo-fi immediacy of Game Dirt (2021) and the spooky sludge rock of Darling Please (2022). But it would be misleading to call the new album “eclectic”; it's simply too coherent, purposeful and passionate to be viewed as a collection of genre exercises. The distinctive stamp that CHRIS CHURCH has put on all these idioms across those albums insures that they all come home sounding like no one else. They belong together, all part of the same story and the unmistakable work of an inimitable artist... and they make OBSOLETE PATH an ideal introduction, a career summation, and a bracingly fresh high point in an already-beloved catalog all at once. Fans old and new will delight in following this path to the end, again and again when the album sees release on CD and Streaming on March 28.

CHRIS CHURCH is the next star of the Big Stir Records roster to roll out a preview of a forthcoming 2025 album, with the new single “Sit Down” out February 14. The latest track from the acclaimed North Carolina pop-rock singer-songwriter, it's a welcome return after Chris's hit 2023 album RADIO TRANSIENT, taking that record's signature sound and pushing it further towards the ambitious, genre-defying melodicism of a new full-length release, coming this Spring. The single is up for pre-order and pre-save now:

https://orcd.co/chrischurch-sitdown

Longtime fans of Lenoir, North Carolina songsmith Chris Church (whose string of albums over the past decade, from 2017's LIMITATIONS OF SOURCE TAPE through his latest trilogy on Big Stir Records) have come to expect the unexpected. It's therefore the biggest surprise of all that the new single “Sit Down” starts in the same giddy territory as his most recent work, with taut, jittering rhythms and '80s-infuenced textures reminiscent of the sleek pop of RADIO TRANSIENT. The tension builds as Church's powerful, inimitable vocals anchor the tune to his greater body of work, and then the chorus hits, blowing “Sit Down” wide open. The word for what happens in that moment is “expansive”, and that sums up what awaits fans on the new album.

That's because this time out Chris Church is visiting almost all his old haunts at once, and it's less a tour than a tour de force. It wouldn't do to call the dazzling array of sonic approaches on the forthcoming album OBSOLETE PATH “eclectic”; Church has put his stamp on all of them -- from alt-country to hard rock to jangling college rock and acoustic confessionals, and of course the pure pop rock heard here – on previous albums. The well-earned mastery he brings to them on the new album is impressive in itself, but even more so is the fact that they all sound like no one other than Chris Church, and each song hits with the emotional heft his admirers have come to expect, while defying all other expectations at every turn. It plays like a career summary, but it's cohesively and breathtakingly fresh.

Release details on the new album are just around the corner via Big Stir Records, but for now, “Sit Down” -- if you can remain seated! -- and marvel at the craft and passion of CHRIS CHURCH as displayed on the first single from what's sure to be a definitive record, both for the artist himself and the indie pop landscape of 2025.

We at 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 out on CD in record stores worldwide and streaming everywhere on the street date, and is up for pre-order at www.bigstirrecords.com, the BSR Bandcamp page, and online retailers now. RADIO TRANSIENT features ten songs in a fresh, sparkling, and propulsive new style for Chris, each framing his renowned melodic instincts, lyrical wit and unmistakable vocal firepower in a giddy new – and irresistible – context.

CHRIS CHURCH has never made the same album twice, and the surprises born of that adventurous spirit are what fans and critics alike have come to love about his work. In many ways, the clean guitars, dramatic synths, franticly kinetic drums (courtesy of NICK BERTLING) and urgent backing vocals from LINDSAY MURRAY (of Gretchen's Wheel) make RADIO TRANSIENT Chris's most “pop” album yet. But it's “pop” beamed in from a sort of alternate '80s radio world envisioned by Church, who frequently cites influences like Lindsey Buckingham, The Fixx, and Hall & Oates when discussing the touchstones of the record. We at Big Stir hear also a fair dollop of the pop-leaning tendencies of The English Beat in the manic rhythms of both the drums and Chris's machine-gun vocal delivery, and the skittering lead runs on the Danelectro 12-string that's practically the only guitar employed during the sessions. The overall effect is, in a word, intoxicating.

The sweetly glistening single “Going 'Til We Go,” an affectionate ode to meandering conversations between Chris and his wife (and co-producer) LORI FRANKLIN, provides a taste of the unique sound of RADIO TRANSIENT. But the record is best first experienced as a whole, starting with the driving beats and rapid-fire hooks of the opening manifesto “GCRT” -- wherein Church imagines himself as an interstellar warrior combatting the avatars of abysmal music imbedded in emanations from the Galactic Center Radio Transient from which the album and song take their titles. From there it's a frenetic, engrossing headlong rush through a series of breakneck-paced pop jewels to the closing track, on which Chris invites the listener to catch him on the “Flip”... a cue to start the record again from the top and begin diving into the fascinating nuances of the lyrics. The pace rarely slows down, but when it does, the rewards are rich: the jaw-droppingly gorgeous ballad “One More Chance To Get Over You” (featuring a ringing guitar solo from the legendary BILL LLOYD), the groove of “Already In It” with its flourishes of Duran Duran/ABC-inspired New Romanticism, and the spooky but utterly danceable “Far Too Late”. Overall, though, RADIO TRANSIENT is sleek, and it's fast: gloriously, bracingly fast. “It sounds like it's about to fall off a cliff the whole time,” says Chris, and that driving tempo is a big part of the record's compelling allure. The pure '80s-radio textures – Chris has even codified the sonic vibe into the phrase “Buckingham/Fixx” -- may surprise fans who've followed Church's recent run of acclaimed outings. Those have run the gamut from the classicist power pop of 2017's Limitations Of Source Tape to the hard rock “Heavy Melody” of Backwards Compatible (2020), and from the GBV-inflected lo-fi of the pandemic-era Game Dirt (2021) to the Crazy Horse sludge-pop of the deeply emotional Darling Please, released last year after a decade in the vaults. But the new sound fits Chris's melodic sensibilities like a glove and is instantly striking, a natural progression of his artistic restlessness and a perfect setting for his nuanced songcraft and impassioned singing (and the harmonies cooked up along with Murray).

Once you've caught your breath and settled down for a closer listen, you'll fall under the spell of the songs themselves. Not enough is said about Church's lyrical prowess, and it's never been more clearly displayed than it is on RADIO TRANSIENT. Although unified by the album's rhythmic and aural signatures, each tune on the album is distinct, and much of that's a credit to the wordplay. Chris toggles from the playfully ludicrous fantasy of “GCRT” (full of absurdist couplets like “Collect your fossil fuels and move it along/Intramolecular aggression is wrong”) to the giddy dance floor come-on of “I Don't Wanna Dance With Me” which sees him feeling free enough to deploy the aside “Hot stuff/What's up?” It might take the listener a few spins to tease out the artist-to-artist love-hate encounter underpinning “I Think I Think I Like You” or how the line "It's purely protozoan, getting getting done" fits into “Flip” and its themes of accepting fate, but it's time well spent, and the melodies speak for themselves.

Church's joy in deploying those kinds of lines is palpable and infectious, and they make it all the more rewarding when he zeroes in on sharp character sketches or deeper emotional truths. RADIO TRANSIENT is anchored by movingly real renderings of romance from the first spark (“Already In It”) to the heartbreak of its conclusion (“Gotta Go Gotta Ramble”) to the soul-deepness of a forever-connection captured in small, lovely moments as on “Going 'Til We Go”. And alongside all of the quirky, often disarmingly profound turns of phrase, you'll find brilliantly crafted lines for the ages, like “Now when I see you on the boulevard, I'm the king of hearts wearing joker's shoes" from the majestic “One More Chance”.

That's what's remarkable about Chris's songs, and RADIO TRANSIENT in particular: fully-formed, emotionally complex universes living beneath the inviting glossy surface. This may well be the greatest album that should have come out in 1987, but like everything CHRIS CHURCH puts forth, it's timeless at its core. And like all great pop music of any stripe, it's damned near addictive. We don't think it's too early to declare this one of the very best records of 2023, because we're certain we'll still be reveling in it by the year's end and for years to come. We're betting you will, too.