FEATURE:
Spotlight
chokecherry
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LAST November…
chokecherry put out their incredible debut album, Ripe Fruit Rots and Falls. I only heard it this month, but I am not a confirmed admirer of this duo. The San Francisco act is comprised primarily of Izzie Clark and E. Scarlett Levinson, who handle all songwriting and core instrumentation. Though Abri Crocitto is drummer with them, the newest interview are with Clark and Levinson, and they are on the publicity photos, so I am referring to chokecherry as a duo rather than a trio. I am going to come to some interviews with chokecherry, as they are a really interesting act. I want to get to some 2025 interviews. Building up to the release of Ripe Fruit Rots and Falls, there was definite interest around them. I do hope that there will be more interviews this year, as chokecherry are a phenomenal duo. Out of Rage spend time with chokecherry (oddly stylising their name both in all capitals and all lower-case). I am fascinated about how Izzie Clark and E. Scarlett Levinson and the early days of chokecherry. It will be curious seeing how they blossom and move through this year. I hope they do have some U.K. dates in mind for the future. A definitely appetite for them over here:
“We spoke to both vocalists, Izzie Clark and E. Scarlett Levinson and wasted no time diving into the band's origins. The two met through the incredibly bustling Bay Area music scene, though they really connected after matching on the dating app Hinge, which took them from acquaintances to strong friends as they met and began jamming together to create the band. Originally they were named Amber Machine, but after it was pointed out to the pair that the name sounded like an IPA, they landed on the more fitting CHOKECHERRY. Seemingly born out of the pair's desire to explore new avenues of music, blending their two previous styles of bands, CHOKECHERRY seems to genuinely be a band that's a perfect cocktail of music lovers coming together to make something special, something a few have called, very aptly, bubble-grunge.
This talk on their origins led to how the idea of two front-people came around, with them wanting to bounce off each other, disregarding a notion of making a specific song and letting it write itself. On using Izzie’s belting and screams to couple with Scarlett’s softer vocals; Scarlett reflects "We never really went in thinking, let’s make this kind of music - or let's be a Cocteau Twins like band – CHOKECHERRY just kind of happened the way it happened by getting in a room."
There's quite a range of genre and style within CHOKECHERRY. They explained that because of this, they had a very intentional release order and schedule for the fans; showing their softer and more emotive side with the first few singles then diving into their heavier work to show off a little what fans experience at their live shows, which we are sure have some fun mosh pit action to get thrown into.
They explained they wanted to do this to not only show their range but to give a taster of the genre diversity in their album, to showcase the high and lows of it, which we have to say is a brilliant way to do it. Off the back of that, the pair listed some influences for us - if you like any of the following bands, we implore you to get involved with CHOKECHERRY as they perfectly encapsulate their vibes in their work. The two listed off a wide range for us: MANNEQUIN PUSSY, PAVEMENT, MITSKI, WITCH ELM, JULIE, TURNSTILE, AMYL AND THE SNIFFERS, MY BLOODY VALENTINE, and COCTEAU TWINS - and even some classical influence from WAGNER which you can tell is blended well into their composition.
Scarlett and Izzie also explained their strong visual influence that the music created for them, stating that they were very hands on with everything that surrounded the music, from Izzie drawing the merch designs and co-directing some of the music videos, to Scarlett designing the videos and styling the outfits for all the visuals. They elaborated "The visuals definitely influence the music and vice-versa because we want to make music that's based on how we feel and that compels that in both mediums”.
I am going to end with an interview from KXLU. It is a radio transcript cut down for clarity, but it is an interview I was keen to highlight. Speaking about the San Francisco scene and music community and their remarkable debut, Ripe Fruit Rots and Falls. An album where chokecherry “spotlighted the spectrum of human vulnerability, from tenderness to rage, rendered as powerful femme rock which pulled from their roots in S.F.’s music scene – from dreamy shoegaze to hollering punk rebellion”:
“What communities and locations in S.F. and the Bay ultimately had a major influence on your inspirations and where you shaped your current sound?
SL: “We love the Bay Area music scene. I mean, it absolutely shaped us and everything that we do, and we have a real, like, love affair with it. I’m born and raised there. Izzie lived there for six years, and went to school there as well. We met there. The band started there. Izzie, do you want to talk about it?”
IC: “I feel like San Francisco is a really unique place to make music. There’s not really a music industry, so everyone’s very informed by their peers, and I think we’re all kind of bouncing off each other, getting inspired by each other. There’s also a great deal of diversity, I feel in the genres in the Bay Area – we have an amazing hip-hop scene, an incredible shoegaze scene. We have punk, also just rock-and-roll, which is kind of like what I used to play in my old band. And there’s also obviously a huge psych scene, and so many psych influences.
“And I think having all of those, that whole world of music is in such a small surface area. I think artists are very much influenced by each other, and they pick up so many nuances that are very much Bay Area – for example, like the hyphy music scene and all of that. There’s so many characteristics of the Bay Area music scene that you could hear in the music, which is really incredible.”
SL: “I mean, Izzie was completely right in that, for the Bay Area music scene, it’s very interesting when a scene exists outside of industry, because people are doing it for the love of and for the sake of – not for, like, commercial viability or whatever, and so it’s really authentic. And we have a really good house show scene.”
What inspired the maximalist style of the album art of this era?
SL: “I like stuff and things. [laughs] There’s a ton of things that I have. Always been kind of a kitschy, over-the-top person in terms of fashion style, visual [stuff]. I mean, Izzie co-directed the last two music videos too and has a very strong visual background. And I think that both of us have a tendency to – we really like the drama. I think that I really love the idea of Ripe Fruit Rots and Falls and the point of the album title. Like we’ve been over it so many times, but in the styling of chokecherry.
“Over the few years since [the band] began, I feel like we have gone, you know, a little bit Gothic, sometimes campy. I had a tendency to wear, like, bows for a long time. Both of us really like lipstick. And it’s not that any of those things are essential to who we are, but they are things that we’ve done, and we really like these brighter color palettes. And I think that, you know, with ripe fruit, and the colors and vibrancy that you would see in that – then the idea of something rotting, falling, youth wasted – there are all sorts of visual identities and signifiers there, but there is something kind of gaudy and wasteful and opulent and over-the-top about it.
“We worked with an incredible photographer named Whitney [Otte]. She shot the album cover, and she just absolutely understood the vision, and it’s complete with scans of actual fruit. All of the things on the cover are real. So it’s real dead, preserved butterflies and bugs that she owns, and real, real fruit. Real flower petals, all, you know, all of that scanned and then Photoshopped it and laid over.
A large theme of your album is wrestling with the unattainability of imagined futures. What would the alternate versions of yourselves be up to now, if you weren’t pursuing your music project?
IC: “I feel like I would probably be doing a lot of visual art, because I used to do a lot of painting before I got into music and also maybe acting. I don’t know. I feel like we – Scarlett and I – would definitely both be doing some sort of art, but I don’t know, what would we be doing?”
SL: “That is a really amazing question. That’s one of my favorite questions we’ve ever been asked. So I think we would both be doing artistic things – we both have always done it, no matter what, throughout our whole lives. I think that the thing is we’ve both always been drawn to it in one form or another. From the time we were very young, I danced and you drew. You know, we did all sorts of things. So I think art would still be a really prevalent part of our lives. But, I don’t know. I think that maybe, I think I probably would have, like, succumbed to the pressure of going to grad school or tried to run a marathon.”
IC: “I could totally see either you’re on Broadway or the head of Amnesty International.”
SL: “I was supposed to work for the NRC doing anti-human trafficking stuff. I was at school, then COVID hit, so I didn’t end up doing that, but I think I would have probably ended up going to law school and dropping out. Quite frankly, I don’t think I would have made it, but I don’t really know. I think that no matter what, we would both still be making art, which is a cool, cool takeaway, but Broadway would be so funny. I would love that.
Yeah, I morbidly was gonna be like, ‘dead’, and I’m like, ‘no, it also isn’t true.’ You know what I mean? I think that one of the things with the imagined futures question too, is the things that are possible given the state of the world right now, and the things that you think about for yourself can be different. Or what you might have, or could have, or would have done differently if you had other options”.
PHOTO CREDIT: Carissa Leong
I will end with a glowing review of Ripe Fruit Rots and Falls from 3 Songs & Out. I know the dup are probably better known in their native U.S., though I can feel their influence starting to spread. As I said before, I hope that they come and play here at some point. I really love their debut album. It is one that I would recommend everyone listen to. I am really excited to see what this year holds in store for chokecherry. Such a magnificent band/duo (depending on how you wish to categorise them):
“Californian duo, Izzie Clark and E Scarlett Levinson, better known as chokecherry, released their debut album on the 14th of November via Fearless Records, 3 Songs found out about it being out and I gave it a listen, I’m really glad I did.
There is no better feeling in music than discovering a great act for the first time and to do it by listening to their debut album makes it even better when you know nothing about them. I miss the days when you would buy an album on spec, take it home, put it on and discover something excellent, although sometimes it didn’t quite work out that way.
I got a similar feeling, without the physical aspect of opening the album, from listening to chokecherry. I love harmonies, always have, and this act have them in spades with some more to spare on top of that. What they also have is a mix of indie, alt-rock, shoe gaze, punk and rock and a smattering of pop to create a wonderful base for their signing.
I don’t know if there is any intention that they tour the UK but if there is I’d like to see how this translates to a live show.
There is drama, there is melody, there are introspective moments and there are moments when you can almost feel the mosh pit forming. There are touches of the Cocteau Twins, Echobelly, Curve, in some bits early Simple Minds and so many other excellent bands but it’s very much chokecherry’s own sound. They are clearly very accomplished musicians and writers but the real joy in this album is in being drawn into it, discovering each new song, deciding it’s the best one on the album then discovering you were wrong only to go back, listen to it again and realise they are all excellent.
The theme that comes through very strongly throughout this album is an exploration of what it means to be truly human, but also a lament, to an extent, for how difficult the world has become and how many people seem to be forgetting their basic humanity. This is an album worth of celebrating true humanity, how we should treat each other, how we should want to be treated and an almost plaintive plea for people to get back to that way of living. It’s a political album with a small p focussing on the need for us to be kinder to each other, to care about each other and to start making that change back to where we were and should be. It deals with these themes in a very personal way, start with your direct relationships and take it from there. Not a bad idea given how messed up the world has become and how intolerant people seem to be of each other these days.
As I said earlier every song feels like it’s the best on the album but my own personal favourite, from repeated listens, is 'You Love It When'. Something about it just clicked for me. I loved the rocky element, the chorus, the longing, if you only listen to one song as a taster I’d recommend this one, it should hook you in to your new favourite band although I think it’s pushed hard by 'Porcelain Warrior' and 'February', so why not listen to all three and then make your mind up.
If they are touring over here I, for one, am in and will be up the front to see if they can translate this album and energy onto the stage. Chokecherry, remember the name, I think you’re going to be hearing a lot more about this album and band”.
The sensational chokecherry need to be on your playlist. There is this amazing connection between Izzie Clark and E Scarlett Levinson. Ripe Fruit Rots and Falls is a stunning album and a sign of things to come. Primed for very big things, go and follow chokecherry on social media. When it comes to this stunning duo, the future looks…
VERY bright indeed.
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