Silver Springs

Winter, 2008, Boston, MA. Silver Springs frontman, Chase Stauffer, then 22 years old and pursuing an undergraduate degree in Creative Writing, has a spectacular (and quite John Cusack-esque) idea. He will win back the love of his life-- in fact, his “high school sweetheart”-- by writing and recording her a song a week, and sending the results to her NYU email address.

A songwriter since he could reach the keys of his father’s concert grand piano, Stauffer drew upon the things he loved most about music: The ebullient snap of his favorite pop songs, the hypnotic pulse of mid-90’s electro and IDM, the twisted poetry of his favorite folk singers and the earnest delivery of his most beloved (gulp) emo bands. An avid performer and home recordist since high school (where he played in various acoustic and electric bands), Stauffer fired up his laptop and went to work.

Some twenty-odd weeks later, he was all but sure he had failed. Until, that is, Stauffer’s best friend and former bassist got a hold of a few of the NYU-bound sonic love letters. The songs made their way to NYC-based musician, producer, and mutual friend Danny Chait, who heard actual potential in the songs Stauffer had meant as little more than a means to reconnect with the girl who got him writing songs in the first place.

With most of the material written alone in Boston, and touched up during trips back home to Santa Barbara, CA-- Chait invited Stauffer to his studio in Midtown Manhattan during the summer of 2009. There, the two of them put the finishing touches on Silver Springs’ debut, the “Fossils EP.”

The result is instantly endearing, smart, and catchy-- with nary a trace of smug self-satisfaction, irony, or anything remotely “scene.” The EP’s title track bounces effervescently-- driven by a piano part pounded out on the very same concert grand he played upon as a blond-haired So-Cal kid. “Satellites”-- the very first track penned for Stauffer’s former flame-- finds electric piano twinkling atop Mellotron and Autoharp samples. The EP’s closer, “They Can’t Tell”, twists and turns as Casio synthlines combine with junky drum machines to register a plea for his love to seize the New York night while the two of them still can.

Of course the story doesn’t end here. Based on the success of the Fossils EP, a full length Silver Springs LP is already in pre-production. For the meantime, Stauffer is back in Santa Barbara, hard at work adapting the material into a live show that captures and translates the brilliant intensity and heartfelt yearning of “Fossils” into a honest-to-God, flesh-and-blood dance party.

Oh, and the girl? Well. We don’t want to give it away-- look forward for the rest of the story to unfold between your stereo speakers when Silver Springs’ LP drops later next year.

Until then, Silver Springs will see you on tour this, um, "spring."