Chief finds its place in the canyons – of L.A. and NYC

Kevin Bronson on
0

chief-andrewtonkery

There’s a lot of geography involved in the emergence of Santa Monica quartet Chief: The members are all private-school kids from southern California who got together at NYU and, signing with London-based Domino Records, relocated back to Santa Monica and ended up making their debut album in studios on both coasts. But Chief’s  most important destination is the emotional place – in that netherworld between yearning and contentment – mapped out by the quartet’s pristine harmonies.

“We’re all decent singers, and I think we worked 12-hour days on vocals for a solid week,” principal songwriter Evan Koga says of making “Modern Rituals” (due Aug. 17) with producer Emery Dobyns (Antony & the Johnsons, Suzanne Vega). “We did a lot of takes and Emery was good at helping us decide what to keep and what to throw away.”

The result is a sparkling folk-rock record with echoes of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and the Band, with Chief joining a long line of recent newbies seeking inspiration from the organic sounds of the 1960s and ’70s. “I think there’s a little bit of nostalgia,” he says. “But there so much techno and electronic-driven music around that I think people are looking for something more real.”

When Koga left SoCal to attend college, he had designs on a career in music but chose a different academic path – philosophy. “When I was in college, I wanted to be a musician, but I wanted to be in college too,” he says, describing his coursework as “mostly writing a lot of papers.”

His songwriting began to take wing when he played in a trio with brothers Danny and Michael Fujikawa. Then Mike Moonves joined up, and the Chief was solidified. “We definitely all have different tastes in music, but we somehow found this common ground,” Koga says. “There are a lot of canyons in L.A. that I like, obviously, but we drew some inspiration from both coasts.”

The band’s “Night & Day” EP comes out next week.

||| Live: Chief headlines the Troubadour tonight, supported by Haim and Grouplove.

Photo by Andrew Tonkery