As Austin-based singer/songwriter SUZANNA CHOFFEL sits outside a coffee shop to discuss her fourth album, a grackle flits underneath the table. The presence of Austin’s most ubiquitous bird barely registers until she mentions, “Birds have become my spirit animal – they help connect me to nature, which is always healing,” Her new album, BIRD BY BIRD, is out today HERE.
Inspired by the New York Times best-selling Anne Lamott modern classic, Bird By Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, Choffel explains, “It’s a book about creative writing, and it starts with a great introduction with a story from Anne Lamont’s childhood about her brother being overwhelmed by a research paper on birds he had put off until the night before it was due. Her father tells him, ‘Hey, it’s okay, let’s just take it bird by bird.’ I loved that way of thinking about overwhelming projects.”
“Choffel has much in common with Austin’s classic female singer-songwriters – Eliza Gilkyson, Shawn Colvin, and Sara Hickman – as well as the modern rung with the likes of Terri Hendrix, Shelley King, and Carolyn Wonderland,” describes Austin Chronicle’s Margaret Moser. “Her smoky voice bears a resemblance to Edie Brickell, the 1980s MTV sweetheart from Dallas who ruled as the Texas songbird of indie rock. Choffel’s willowy soul developed while she was still a stripling.”
“Choffel wraps positive lyrics in music that range from brassy to sassy to introspective. A first-class singer, Choffel has the kind of voice that commands attention; the kind of voice that makes listeners shut up for fear they’ll miss something,” noted Jim Beal, San Antonio Express-News. “And that smoky, soulful voice, mixed with indie-pop and jazz sensibilities, provides a beautiful vehicle for her words.”
She knew she needed to step away from her daily routine to get in the zone for this one. She also wanted to work with producer and longtime friend David Garza, who had just become a father and was staying close to home in L.A. She booked a flight; he called drummer Amy Wood and bassist Sebastian Steinberg, his co-producers with Fiona Apple on her GRAMMY®-winning album, Fetch the Bolt Cutters.
Choffel finds a noirish sweet spot, “a swampy, sultry vibe,” on Bird By Bird and hits a new creative peak, segueing from tunes reflecting her love of ’80s pop to smoky jazz grooves on which she channels her inner Peggy Lee. “I believe she is truly the voice of Austin,” Garza gushed in a recent interview. “I hope that with this album, folks worldwide will get hip to her artistry.”
Choffel already had a reputation as a singer-songwriter and performer who glides among genres, eagerly exploring too many influences to fit neatly into any category. Bob Marley, Lauryn Hill and Mary J. Blige are significant inspirations, along with hooky, Madonna-ish dance-pop, Brazilian music, Stevie Wonder and her Mexican heritage.
Performing professionally since she was 14, Choffel has won several national songwriting competitions and earned a 2009 Austin Music Award for Best Indie Band. Of her season three stint on The Voice, Rolling Stone writer Jessica Hopper noted, “[she’s] one of the only singers on anyone’s team … who had the voice you’d want to listen to for an entire album.”
“Bird By Bird” is produced by longtime Choffel friend/collaborator David Garza. Drummer Amy Wood and bassist Sebastian Steinberg perform on the album and its title track, which was recorded at the famed Sonic Ranch in West Texas. Guest contributions on Bird By Bird (including violin by Warren Hood and Carrie Rodriguez) were recorded at Austin’s Cedar Creek Studio.