Photo by Shauna Regan
SUTRO
Digital Album
Christina Chatfield
Christina Chatfield makes music to lose yourself in. She is an artist who knows her voice, and who has taken the time to honor her craft through a lifelong process of artistry. Reared in the Midwest and formally trained at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Chatfield’s evolution has been the result of a deep study of synthesis, sound design, and music production.
Chatfield adopted the Bay Area as her home over a decade ago, which proved a natural fit. She’s since become a staple in the SF scene, becoming a resident for the revered party As You Like It (AYLI) and performing for notable events like Mutek SF. She’s also toured domestically and internationally, playing venerated parties such as No Way Back, The Bunker NY, and Nuit Blanche in Paris. Despite Christina’s training, masterful skill, and in-depth knowledge, her productions are undeniably danceable and approachable. Yet, they are also far from ordinary, often veering into psychedelic territory. She has the ability to make dance floors erupt with ease, and her ambient productions, likewise, welcome the listener into her textured world. Central to Chatfield’s philosophy is her emphasis on performing live. She is a producer and not a DJ; her live sets—original works for and of the moment—showcase not only her technical skill but her breadth as an artist. Performances from Chatfield spawn from an organic place: Christina relies not only on her skill but her instinct, which often guides listeners into unexpected realms.
Though she resides in the Bay Area, Chatfield’s sound has retained much of Midwest techno’s raw influence. Her productions, often characterized by polyphonic synth and infectious acid lines, are effusive and immersive. Though she has made a name for herself as a dynamic dance music producer, Chatfield also identifies an ambient artist. Her first full length release, Sutro, forthcoming on Mysteries of the Deep, is an elegant, stunning exhibition of her breadth and versatility. Christina Chatfield is an artist who continues to expand artistically, and who will undoubtedly captivate listeners for years to come.
https://christinachatfield.bandcamp.com/album/sutro
Picture a skyline. Then, fog cascading down the wooded hills of San Francisco, towards the Pacific. And rising up from that land is a tower — the radio antenna of the Sutro Tower — that reaches upwards like a metal claw, as if to harness all of the power of the sky. That is the image Christina Chatfield’s Sutro conjures and is also its point of inspiration.
Christina Chatfield, based in SF, offers Mysteries an impressive, visionary full-length debut. Abound with polyphonic synth work and immersive tonal structures, these arrangements unfold into lush, cinematic soundscapes. Chatfield has long been a versatile producer with roots in techno, electro, ambient, shoegaze and more — and all of these influences come through in Sutro, creating an album with remarkable power and emotional depth.
At times, tracks like “Nameless,” with its misty vocals layered over hypnotic synth, pay homage to the shoegaze greats. At other points, the album turns retro-futuristic, becoming a sonic rendering of the Sutro Tower itself. In “Pearls Scattered,” for example, an off-kilter synth melody lends eccentricity to an already moody atmosphere. Arguably the most immersive arrangements on the album are “Concatenate I” and its connected successor “Concatenate II,” as well as the richly textured, panoramic track “Drin.” As “Concatenate” derives its name from a linguistic programming concept meaning linking (things) together in a chain or series, it seems natural that the album extends “Concatenate” into two sequences. In both, synth arpeggiation guides the ear through maximalist landscapes accented by lush pads. “Drin” is melodic and sweeping, bringing to mind the ruins of the Sutro Baths, bathed in the glow of afternoon light. “Drin” especially is a microcosmic example of what happens in so many of the tracks on this album: they start quiet and evolve, until it’s clear the silence is teeming with life. The album closes with its title track, which leans into Chatfield’s techno sensibilities; its elegance leaves the ear satisfied. Altogether, the album nourishes and satisfies, for what Chatfield has composed is thoughtfully conceptualized and wholly complete.