Christina Wheeler Releases New Single 'Into the Sun'

Berlin/Los Angeles-based composer, multi-instrumentalist, and multimedia artist, Christina Wheeler, releases her commanding single "Into The Sun," today, the second track from her forthcoming LP, Songs of S + D due out March 25, 2022 and available for pre-save here.

Skillfully blending soul and shoe-gaze to create her own "soul-gaze" sound, Wheeler interrogates the full spectrum of human emotion through intricate instrumentation and fierce lyricism, no matter how delicate or grim. Where the previously released "Asleep At The Wheel" depicts chasing thrills to the point of destruction, "Into The Sun" puts the destruction on full display, with biting imagery of self-immolation.

Backed by percussion from the critically acclaimed Marque Gilmore, "Into The Sun" is a thunderous track that with Wheeler's vocals, builds with intensity as Wheeler ponders a journey into the searing solar atmosphere. Speaking about the single, Wheeler explains the track, "finds Gilmore's masterful live jungle drumming coupled with QChord synth bells. This song shatters the Icarus myth's plummet to earth, to re-envision liberation from gravity and hurtling into the sun's encompassing heat and light in ecstatic communion."

Throughout much of her work, Wheeler explores the porous, delicate lines between universal dichotomies such as good and evil, life and loss, and elation and devastation.

Songs of S + D distinctively asks what it might sound like to fuse the sounds that surrounded Wheeler in her childhood, from soul, R&B, funk, disco and shoe-gaze. The album's recording process took place between Red Bull Studios in both Berlin and New York City, as well as Berlin's Vox-Ton Studio.

Wheeler expanded the record's scope and quality with several collaborators including Melvin Gibbs, (electric bass) Marque Gilmore (drums, programmer) and Marika Hughes (cellist). Additionally, Joe McGinty and Kelvin Sholar added synths and synth bass lines, while Christian Prommer, Antonio Pulli, Simon Goff, Chris Tabron, and Evan Sutton engineered the recording. Veteran engineer Scotty Hard mixed the album, and Michael Fossenkemper mastered the digital version.

Describing the meaning behind her LP, Wheeler says, "It's a deeply personal album long time in the making. Inspired by my experience of having lived through 9/11 in New York City and the subsequent attempt to negotiate the aftermath of that time once I moved to Berlin, I began to write a series of songs addressing the larger human experience of life, loss, joy, ecstasy, sadness, and the connecting, universal condition, framed through the context of vivid, intimate vignettes.

With a unique vocal, musical and technological ability, Wheeler ultimately aims to connect listeners through finding common ground in the collective lived human experience. Wheeler explains, "While technology continues to evolve, the human voice remains constant in the singing of songs. With this project, I hope to share modern music with the world that speaks to our universal experiences and connect us through the simple, evocative themes in the narrative and emotional content of my songs."

Wheeler's expansive career includes work as a soloist, band mate, featured artist, and even an immersive experience performer. As a soloist, Wheeler has composed and performed her own pieces for Free Rotation Festival and New York's Experimental Intermedia, Issue Project Room, and Bang on a Can. Fact Magazine reported on her performance of one of her solo pieces called "Surrender to the Totality of Blackness," which she presented at this year's CTM Festival.

Her journey also led her to collaborate on several band projects, including Wiremouth, Floating People, and BlowOut, in addition to her time with David Byrne on his tour throughout the U.S., Europe and South America in 1997 and 1998, and later, on The Late Night Show with David Letterman, where she made her television debut with Byrne. In addition to her appearance with Byrne on PBS' Sessions at West 54th, Wheeler has recorded and played with countless musicians like Ryuichi Sakamoto, Chaka Khan, Vernon Reid, and more.

Unafraid to confront the complexities of human emotion and existential questions, Christina Wheeler is carving a space of her own, free from constraints of genre and far from ordinary. Songs of S + D is out March 25, 2022 and now available to pre-save. The transcendental second single, "Into The Sun" is out everywhere now. Keep up with all things Christina Wheeler via Facebook, Instagram and Bandcamp.

Listen to the new single here:

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