Suzanna Choffel

Artist Information

Biography

Suzanna Choffel is from Austin – born and raised. But shake the stereotype of Texas singer/songwriter like a snow globe; with influences that range from Erykah Badu and Feist to Bebel Gilberto and Marie Daulne, Suzanna is as unique as the maelstrom of snow inside the glass ball.

“I’m influenced by a lot of different things. I listened to World music in college, Reggae and Brazilian music and African music . . . I love jazz, I love hip-hop, I love pop. I love a really sweet story or emotional kind of experience and that’s what I strive for in my songwriting…visual lyrics and a strong melody, where the music is able to move people.”

Suzanna’s music is difficult to categorize. Rock music critic Jim DeRogatis, sums it well: “equal parts beat poetry, smoky soul grooves and indie-pop eccentricity.” Whatever the descriptors may be, she has a distinctive sound for an artist from Texas, but it is still Texan.

“Texas music is soulful and rootsy. Whether it’s rock, pop, blues, folk or country, it always has a raw feel to it and tends to have a sway and a swagger. I believe that comes from the heat. A lot of southern music shares that element, but Texas is unique in that it has a bit of the west, too, and the influences of our neighbors south of the border.”

Suzanna captured the big musical heart of Austin with her independently released debut album, Shudder & Rings. Margaret Moser, the grand dame of the Austin music scene and music editor of The Austin Chronicle, dubbed her Austin’s "Next Fun Fearless Female Rock Star.” Driven by the single, “Hey Mister,” and a YouTube hit for the video of “Raincloud,” Suzanna wrapped-up three-years of promoting and touring for the album by winning the Austin Music Award for “Indie Artist of the Year” in 2009. Along the way she also won top honors in the John Lennon Songwriting Competition, International Songwriting Competition, and the FameCast competition.

On her upcoming album, Steady Eye Shaky Bow, Suzanna weaves a rich tapestry of colorful emotions and delivers, lyrically and musically, on the new voice in town promise of her debut. The album’s title is taken from, “Archer,” a lamenting song of disaffection wherein she sketches her lover with a “steady eye but a shaky bow,” and then calls him out, “you shot too low.” “Animal” continues on the theme of vexed love, “First you win my heart, then you tear it apart! You're a liar, that's what kind of animal you are.”

“I’ve noticed in some of my songs there’s kind of like a theme of struggle against something . . . your own personal independence in a relationship, your own struggle with some of your own habits. I would say bittersweet kind of describes a lot of my lyrics because they’re sweet, but they always have a dark side to them.”

Suzanna’s musical signature comes from the staccato rhythm of her guitar and a tone that harmonizes in perfect accord with her sweet smoky voice. Her band is a rotating line-up of Austin all-stars: The core group is bassist Johnny Vogelsang (Bob Schneider, Soulhat); vibes/accordion/synth player Laura Scarborough (Lila's Medicine, Ohn); and saxophone/clarinet player Brad Houser (New Bohemians, Boombox, Critters Buggin').

"They've been in some of the best bands in Austin over the last 15, 20 years. So when I first got with this band, I was super-nervous until it became apparent they liked playing with me. My name's on the marquee – 'Suzanna Choffel' – but the music includes everyone. We're a band.”

While putting the finishing touches on her new album a nice surprise fell into Suzanna’s lap in the form of an unwitting on-screen appearance in the documentary film, Catfish. Suzanna is heard and seen in the film via a YouTube clip of her sultry performance of the Jimmy Driftwood classic, “Tennessee Stud.” How the video made it into the film is as intriguing as the plot line itself but suffice it to say that she got hooked on the web in a twist-filled true story of the filmmaker’s personal tale of a virt

Instrumentation

Laura Scarborough - Accordion, vibraphone, Vox / Synth
Johnny Vogelsang - Vocals, Bass
Kyle Thompson - Drums
Chris Gebhard - guitar and keyboard

Discography

Shudders & Rings, 2006
"Hey Mister" and "Weeds" in rotation on Austin's 90.5 KUT and 93.3 KGSR.

Steady Eye Shaky Bow, 2011
"Raincloud" in heavy rotation on Austin's 93.3 KGSR
"Animal" in rotation on Austin's 90.5 KUT

Links

• Facebook
• YouTube
• Twitter
• MySpace
• Posterous

Audio

• Raincloud
  Listen  
• Animal
  Listen  
• Race Car
  Listen  
• So The Story Goes MP3
  Listen  
• Archer
  Listen  
• Hey Mister
  Listen  
• Subtle Boy
  Listen  
• Inch
  Listen  
• Stumble MP3
  Listen  

Lyrics

• hey mister
• the challenge
• Subtle Boy
• Archer
• Animal
• So the Story Goes
• Stumble
• Race Car

Video

Raincloud - live at ME-TV Studios

Photo Gallery

Press

• Steady Eye Shaky Bow Album Review [+ Show ]
  

  Suzanna Choffel has put together a solid combination of pop, soul, and jazz on her new record Steady...Suzanna Choffel has put together a solid combination of pop, soul, and jazz on her new record Steady Eye Shaky Bow. The Austin native uses her strong voice and unique song writing to produce a nice mix of pop soul and jazz. Choffel barely has to try. Her smokey voice lays down comfortably over every song on the album and her complicated intertwined word play flows beautifully with her accompanying music. It is a good album.
  On the opening track, “Archer”, Choffel and her band explore a dizzying jazz sound with multiple time and tempo changes. The song starts with disjointed piano and guitar which are quickly herded by the drums and set into motion. Choffel’s voice tackles the ever moving track with ease. When tempos change, she pounces on top of them like a lion cub playing with her prey. Though she sings about the upsetting departure of an unaware lover, she seems strong. She is always in complete control.
  The albums standout track is “Raincloud”, a dixieland jazz tune about a girl and her constant sadness. This song is almost impossible not to tap your foot to. Choffel employs one of New Orleans best jazz bands, Big Sams Funky Nation, to help out. With snappy synth and an exploding horn section, the song embodys new Dixieland. Somehow Choffel takes this hundred year old sound and makes it her own. The trombone screams, the drum taps away, the synthesizer dances, but most of all Choffel makes all of these elements secondary with her voice. Her words of secrets and rain coat the track with a smooth consistency. This is her song. She uses the music to get you dancing, and half way through the song you realize you are singing along. You barely notice the awesome trombone work accompanying her.
  As the album continues, it just gets more comfortable like sinking into a big old leather chair. The songs calm down and become easier to keep up with. The first couple of tracks are constantly shifting and moving. The album then becomes remove extra word more natural and lets Choffel’s lyrics and whiskey coated voice take over. The influence of Stax Records and Motown are undeniable. The smooth guitar stays subtle. The drums whisper and let the rest of the band take over. It is on these songs that Choffel hits her stride. It is clear that Choffel’s blue soul is stronger than her pop voice. Tracks like “Animal” and “Hot Shot” are flowing and almost peaceful. Choffel’s metaphors are well played and consistent. People are animals, love is a game. She really knows what she is doing.
  Choffel is a hell of a song writer. Steady Eye Shaky Bow makes this very clear. This is good music for a lady in a convertible. It would be great for driving around with the top down on a beautiful spring day. It is good music to tell yourself you don’t need your ex-boyfriend. If I were a thirty year old nurse, I think this would be my favorite album of the year. Choffel’s voice and lyrics are powerful. Listening to her makes you feel empowered. She conveys charisma and charm in every verse. This album is damn near impossible not to like.

• Steady Eye Shaky Bow Album Review [+ Show ]
  

  What if Nelly Furtado recorded jazzy pop instead of club music, Adele learned how to write more than...What if Nelly Furtado recorded jazzy pop instead of club music, Adele learned how to write more than three types of songs, and Zero 7 weren't so damn boring? Suzanna Choffel, an Austin-based guitar and voice teacher, takes the potential of other artists rooted in R&B, pop, and moody electronica, and actually fulfills it. Her eclectic sophomore release traffics in blue-eyed soul viewed through an indie-rock lens. New Orleans-flavored lead single "Raincloud" showcases Choffel as a smoldering, sassy vocal gymnast, but it's the fair-skinned funk of "Stumble" that should be Steady's calling card. The track buries Choffel's scatty voice slightly, allowing her stellar band to pepper in springing guitars, ominous vibes, shivering pianos, and one of the phattest beats in Texas this year. Other highlights include the macabre soul of opener "Archer" and the bare balladry of closer "Come Clean." The latter implies a coming bombastic climax when Choffel sings nakedly in the song's quietist moment, but she puts the track to bed with a final chorus and a high note on the piano instead. Steady's seamless melding of genres, quality songwriting, and unparalleled musicianship should serve as a warning to musicians of higher sales but lower caliber: All you need is time and talent.

• Steady Eye Shaky Bow Album Review [+ Show ]
  

  Don't let the title fool you, there's nothing unsure about anything in Steady Eye Shaky Bow. Suzanna...Don't let the title fool you, there's nothing unsure about anything in Steady Eye Shaky Bow. Suzanna Choffel's sophomore release and her first full-length since 2006's Shudders & Rings shoots for the sky from the opening track "Archer" on her exuberant sound. By turns sultry and soulful, bubbling with her sizzling brand of eclectic indie pop ("Hot Shot," "Racecar," "So the Story Goes"), Steady Eye also comes with a secret weapon. Most artists pray their second disc brings back the audience from the first, but Choffel comes armed with a fresh arrangement of "Raincloud," the captivating composition most likely to catapult her into the next stage (if "Animal" doesn't). A class act born and raised here in Austin, Choffel's imprinted with pure confidence matched by the luminous production by Danny Reisch, local producer of the year who gave the Bright Light Social Hour such fine mojo. Here's to Choffel's second act!

• Steady Eye Shaky Bow Album Review [+ Show ]
  

  The tracks on “Steady Eye Shaky Bow” that catch attention have a sultry, dangerous vibe about them; ...The tracks on “Steady Eye Shaky Bow” that catch attention have a sultry, dangerous vibe about them; the tracks that don’t work sound like average jazz standards.
  
  Choffel kicks off her latest album with “Archer,” from which the album takes its title. The jagged rhythms and herky-jerky propulsion of the verses are met by a low, smooth chorus; she connects the parts by applying her come-hither alto to both. Her controlled but powerful performance is an immediate attention-grabber.
  
  She follows with “Raincloud,” which features a few less jagged edges, but a whole lot more attitude in the horn-packed arrangement and a brash vocal performance. There’s still an edge, and it’s the undercurrent that keeps things fresh.
  
  “So the Story Goes” is the first of the forgettable tracks; it’s nice, but who wants to be remembered as pleasant when “dangerous/fascinating” is on the table? “Animal” redeems the former track by investing a similar pleasant acoustic backdrop with a powerful vocal performance of an excellent melody and lyric (“You’re a liar / And that’s what kind of animal you are / You are, you are!” — ouch).
  
  But the highlight of the whole shebang is “Stumble,” which turns toward Portishead-style trip-hop as a vehicle for Choffel’s pipes. Mildly distorting the vocals only makes the song all the more haunting (and brilliant).
  
  The back half of the album isn’t as interesting; “Hold of the Night” tries to appropriate the earlier fire, but it’s not there in her voice. “Racecar” is solid, but the melody isn’t as memorable, and the vibe not as fine-tuned. The spare acoustic closer “Come Clean” is one of her only moments of effective vulnerability, but it makes for a nice conclusion to the album.
  
  The high points of “Steady Eye Shaky Bow” are so high that they make the low ones stick out badly. Ignore the chaff and enjoy the excellent, sultry tunes. —Stephen Carradini

• Steady Eye Shaky Bow Album Review [+ Show ]
  

  Texas native Suzanna Choffel’s influences run deep and wide. Erykah Badu. Paul Simon. Bebel Gilberto...Texas native Suzanna Choffel’s influences run deep and wide. Erykah Badu. Paul Simon. Bebel Gilberto. Marie Daulne. When that many ingredients enter your musical stylings, you know it is going to figure into a very interesting mix, and Choffel definitely delivers in that regard.
  
  There’s a very retro feel to this disc. Several of the cuts sounds like they are from another era. “Archer” sounds very much like it could have been the theme song for an early James Bond film for example, and she conjures up a 70s sound on “So The Story Goes,” for example. But that’s not a criticism. The album in no way sounds dated, as it’s just a reflection of her many musical tastes.
  
  She delves into a jazz sound on “Raincloud” and takes a swing into the funky with “Animal,” but sounds best when she’s letting the emotions flow. There’s a sexy groove to “Hot Shot” that she handles in an effortless manner, and “Inch” is very much in that vein as well. All in all, a nice musical smorgasbord of emotions and styles, as Choffel takes the listener on quite the emotional ride!

• Steady Eye Shaky Bow Album Review [+ Show ]
  

  At the forefront of Austin's rising female stars, Suzanna Choffel evolves into a force on her follow...At the forefront of Austin's rising female stars, Suzanna Choffel evolves into a force on her follow-up to 2006's debut, Shudders & Rings. The aptly titled Steady Eye Shaky Bow both smokes with a defiance and trembles with jazz-pop sheen, Choffel drifting between coy and brazen. Accenting her stunning vocals, however, are full arrangements that wind dramatically through opener "Archer", dance affectionately on "So the Story Goes" and aggressively hollow out on the meticulous "Stumble", leaving Choffel consuming a powerful sound that falls between Feist, Madeleine Peyroux and Ani Difranco. Mesmerizing and powerful, Choffel's sophomore effort leaves her poised for breakout success. - Doug Freeman

• SXSW 2009 Performance Review (March 2009) [+ Show ]
  

  "Hard-to-pigeonhole singer-songwriters are a dime a dozen in Austin, but Choffel, a big winner at th..."Hard-to-pigeonhole singer-songwriters are a dime a dozen in Austin, but Choffel, a big winner at the local music awards Wednesday, impressed me more than any I've heard here with a unique sound equal parts Beat poetry, smoky soul grooves and indie-pop eccentricity. Think Feist meets Erykah Badu..."

• The Next Fun Fearless Female Rock Star (Nov. 2008) [+ Show ]
  

  "As a contender for the Cosmopolitan StarLaunch contest and the winner of two online competitions, i..."As a contender for the Cosmopolitan StarLaunch contest and the winner of two online competitions, including FameCast; a featured artist on two compilations who tours nonstop playing private parties and concerts; and a CMJ showcaser with loads of critical praise for her CD and invitations left and right to collaborate, not to mention one of the hottest videos on YouTube, Choffel arguably has the hottest name out of Austin at the moment. It's more than enough to serve notice that she's, quite literally, moving from the small stage to the big one."
  http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A707041
  

• Performance Review (August 2008) [+ Show ]
  

  “Not just another singer-songwriter, Suzanna Choffel is sexy and smart. Her band's mix of pop, soul...“Not just another singer-songwriter, Suzanna Choffel is sexy and smart. Her band's mix of pop, soul, be-bop and adult themes creates a vision that is unique, thoroughly refreshing and worthy of national attention.”

• Performance Review (October 2008) [+ Show ]
  

  "Choffel is Austin's first YouTube superstar. Check out the video and wonder how many record deals a..."Choffel is Austin's first YouTube superstar. Check out the video and wonder how many record deals are coming her way."

• 9 Bands To Watch In '09 (March 2009) [+ Show ]
  

  "All the attention hasn't gone to Suzanna Choffel's head, which has to be difficult, because it easi..."All the attention hasn't gone to Suzanna Choffel's head, which has to be difficult, because it easily could.
  Thanks to YouTube, people around the world started figuring out what people in Austin already knew - the bubbly Choffel seems to have "it".
  "She has that star quality about her", says Margaret Moser, the queen of Austin music writers. "You just look at someone like her performing and, yeah... that's what it is. It's her intelligence and her spriteliness that's so charming."
  
  www.austinmonthly.com

• Poised at the Edge of an Axiom (Jan. 2009) [+ Show ]
  

  "Successful musicians can be defined by a pair of nearly immutable axioms. The first requirement sta..."Successful musicians can be defined by a pair of nearly immutable axioms. The first requirement states that sustained success requires a constant drive toward progressive change. The second states that the best musicians are those who can remain true to an authentic artistic vision. Suzanna Choffel is one musician who, upon even a glance, seems poised to propel into arenas of expression and exposure extending far beyond the limits of her central Texas home. With an insistence on authenticity and following a work ethic that borders on obsessive, Choffel can expect the future to yield very sweet fruits indeed." www.austinme.com

• Album Review::Austin Chronicle [+ Show ]
  

  "Austin-born Suzanna Choffel calls her slippery style "urban folk", and that's not a bad summation o..."Austin-born Suzanna Choffel calls her slippery style "urban folk", and that's not a bad summation of the well-crafted compositions on her debut CD, Shudders & Rings. It's also worth noting that Choffel is schooled in music and that her ease in performing and writing comes from early exposure through the Grammy in the Schools program, not to mention playing in kid bands when she was young. It sounds cliche to say "watch this one", but don't say you weren't warned."
  
  

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Setlist

Can do up to a two hour set, or three hours with a few breaks. All original songs, except a few covers by various artists ranging from Johnny Cash to Brazilian music to R&B.
1. Inch
2. My Fill
3. Hey Mister
4. Strange
5. The Race
6. Messenger
7. Pack Light
8. Imaginary Glue
9. Since Friday Night
10. Subtle Boy
11. Come Clean
12. Weeds
13. The Challenge
14. First Breath
15. Stumble
16. Archer
17. August Day Song (Bebel Gilberto)
etc, etc.
18. Hold of the Night
19. Little Mystery
20. Animal
21. Fall
22. Hot Shot

Basic Requirements

Calendar