Big Stir Records press release:

This Friday, March 6, 2020, “The Handling” by Dolph Chaney becomes the 63rd BIG STIR DIGITAL SINGLE OF THE WEEK!! It’s 3 ½ minutes of jangly, pure pop ear candy. As always,  it's available to order at www.bigstirrecords.com/big-stir-digital-singles www.bigstirrecords.com/big-stir-digital-singles now. 

This is the second BIG STIR DIGITAL SINGLE from Illinois-based, low-fi champion Dolph Chaney’s upcoming “Rebuilding Permit” album which will be released on Big Stir Records this April. Backed with “Automatic Caution Door,” the sound of “The Handling”, and the entire ”Rebuilding Permit” album, is pop that is at once both familiar and alien.  The guitars ring and buzz with Pete Townshendy zeal and analog synth bloops as Chaney’s voice soothes, cajoles, smirks, pries then climbs higher and higher until the listener becomes aware of being awash in an apocalyptic epiphany amid a song about nasal spray.  

“It took a surprisingly long time to write a song as simple as 'The Handling'”, says Dolph Chaney about his upcoming single. “I had the gist of the verses and the main riff seemingly forever. I would come back to it every few months over a period of nearly two years. My dad flew away the following October, the oldest and largest-looming of the "old cats" I'd had to bid farewell that year. I relied upon "The Handling" to help hold myself together.” Chaney plays guitar, bass and sings on “The Handling,” and Jim LeFager keeps the beat with his steady drumming. The song was produced by Dolph Chaney, co-produced and mixed by Milk Arnold and mastered by the maestro himself, Big Stir’s very own Steven Eric Wilson. 

“’Automatic Caution Door’ was originally written on 04/04/04,” continues Chaney. “The original version was the closer of my CDR-only album VERY JUST FINE: AMPLITUDE THREE.  It's either a weird prayer or a really weird love song.” Here again we find Jim LeFager’s rock steady drumming keeping time as Dolph contributes his voice, acoustic guitar, bass, electric guitar and E-bow guitar. 

Comparisons have been made to acknowledged influences such as XTC, Robyn Hitchcock, the Violent Femmes, Bob Mould, Elvis Costello, Matthew Sweet, Neutral Milk Hotel, and Henry Cow.  

Dolph Chaney’s music has brought him experiences running the gamut, from early encouragement received by mail from experimental guitar shaman Eugene Chadbourne, to sitting in a festival green room being told by Jim Bakker why he cowers at the sight of a Diet Coke.  

Chaney’s prior work is available immediately along with many others via www.dolphchaney.com and major online retailers and services. Throughout these three decades of work, what always shines through in a Dolph Chaney release are the imaginative, irrepressible, and deeply felt songs. Feel them today.