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At the intersection of land/sea, sexuality/gender, and fairy tale/reality CHAN SAYS & OTHER SONGS is a poetic, fragmented memoir that interrogates what it means to inhabit a space. From the spaces of childhood, of memory, of the body, of the performance of genders, to the niche spaces of modern queer poetics, and the traumatized self. At times whimsical and by turns deeply scarred, this is an interior landscape humming with hurt, possibility, desire, and an impulse to confront discomfort while embracing beauty. Many of the poems in this collection have been meticulously erased, or excavated, in order to create something like an after-image of the poems which convey new meanings that often contradict or complicate the original. My intention is to interrogate myself in the same way an erasure poem might interrogate another text: by mining the text for images and meanings that exist within the text itself. The poems and erasures are meant to face each other on opposing pages, so that as the pages turn the erasures sort of lift off of the originals, and so that they might be read as if in translation. Much of this work felt less like erasing my own words and more like translating, excavating, or exhuming the meanings within, or possibly like witnessing an erosion-like phenomena, the result of which creates something like Sapphic fragments.
Includes unlimited streaming of Chan Says & Other Songs
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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“Stop scrolling”, poet and singer-songwriter Caleb Nichols begins, on the opening track of their new EP “Chan Says & Other Songs”. It’s less of a command and more of a suggestion: an ask for attention at the start of a cycle of spoken word poetry and songs that explores Nichols’ identity as a non-binary person navigating spaces that range from childhood desire to present uncertainty, doubt, and dissociation.
Before Nichols was born, their parents thought they might be female, and were going to name them “Chantal” and here Nichols presents Chan to the world for the first time— a new part of their identity as an artist, poet, musician, and non-binary person.
Time is a major theme in the poems, as Nichols interrogates futurity and whether or not we can really live anywhere but in the past. From “Chan Eats Her Chrysalis”: “looking out/ at all these galaxies/ is really just looking back/ now thinking/ that anyway you look/ you’re really just/ looking behind you.” As Chan emerges from the liminal space of the cocoon she engages in an act of devouring the past, and through eating “the black sac” crosses a threshold into a queer time that is not present, future, or past, but between.
The two songs on the EP explore new musical ground for the Kill Rock Stars recording artist, from the 5/4 Stereolab-infused groove of “Chan Says” (which could feel equally at home on an Aldous Harding record) to the dusty, 90’s hip-hop funk of “Wicked (Chan’s Edit)” Nichols’ songcraft tries on a new set of threads and looks good doing it. “I’m not the good witch, I’m the bad one” Nichols sings on “Wicked”, a dark fairy tale track that invokes the dream-pop of Beach House, infused with existential angst and a sort of sassy certainty about being unsure. “I’ll never tell you my name/I’ll never tell you my name” Nichols sings in the track’s funky refrain— a declaration that our true identities are closely guarded secrets, to be cherished, and kept like a treasure.
Produced by Caleb (poems) and Zach Rogue of Rogue Wave (music) “Chan Says & Other Songs” is the audio accompaniment to Nichols’ new collection of poems of the same name, published by Bottlecap Press. The collection, which Guggenheim Fellow Eduardo C. Corral called “moving and marvelously queer” is out now and features 36 pages of new poetry from Nichols.
credits
released March 31, 2023
Caleb Nichols // CHAN SAYS & OTHER SONGS
Produced by Zach Rogue & Caleb Nichols
“Chan Says” & “Wicked (Chan’s Edit)” recorded by Adam Nash.
Additional recording by Ian Pellicci, Ian McDonald, and Jeff Jamieson.
Mixed by Jay Pellicci at Brothers (Chinese) Recording.
Musicians:
Adam Nash: Guitars, Bass, Synths, Backup Vocals
Alex Nash: Drums
Caleb Nichols: Vocals, Guitar
Pat Spurgeon: Percussion
“Stop Scrolling” “Enter Chan” “Chan Eats Her Chrysalis” “Chan Meets The Sea Witch” “Chan Burns Her Bridges” “Chan Divines Our Future With Her Magic 8 Ball” & “Life Will Form My Body” recorded by Caleb Nichols at home, using tracks recorded by Adam Nash, Pat Spurgeon and Ian Pellicci.
Mixed by Jay Pellicci at Brothers (Chinese) Recording.
Songs and poems written by Caleb Nichols. The poems are selections from the chapbook “Chan Says & Other Songs” published by Bottlecap Press.
