Today, Brooklyn-based, Metro-Detroit-bred singer-songwriter, Charlie Burg, announces his debut LP,Infinitely Tall, available for pre-order now. Along with the long-awaited album announcement, Burg brings a new single that evokes the way true friendship feels, “Chicago (Take It Or Leave It), ” out everywhere now along with its accompanying pizza parlor-setvideo, via FADER Label.
Infinitely Tall, the 15 track LP, is told in three chapters, each tied to a specific place–from his childhood house in Detroit, to college in Syracuse, and now, life in New York City. The project explores the various spaces in one’s life that may make, break, shape and uplift, using lush soundscapes that blend genres and transcend location, age, space and time. The album was produced by Mike Malchicoff, who has worked with Bo Burnham, Niall Horan, Kids See Ghosts and King Princess.
Speaking to the chapter book structure of the album, Burg’s goal was to design a body of work that mirrored the stages of his own life and the places that have shaped him throughout his life thus far, Burg explains, “I formatted this album in a three-chapter layout, with each group of five songs representing a different space in my life. The first is representative of the dreamlike nostalgia of one’s hometown; the second embodies a college house and the free spirit and recklessness of young adulthood; the third is city life, an ejection from youth into adulthood, and the endlessness that stretches out before you in the smoky urban expanses.”
On the debut record, Charlie Burg says, “The album is a reflection on spaces – namely houses – and the ways that we are shaped by our physical surroundings. “Infinitely Tall” is a phrase from the final track of the album which was born out of a jam session with my friend Rebecca in my hometown years ago. As I reflected on the concept of the album that phrase accurately encapsulated the feeling I had when thinking about home. We might change. Home might change.But some things never die.”
Previous releases have caught the attention of countless major tastemakers, including Matt Wilksinson of Beats 1, who premiered “Channel Orange In Your Living Room,” says the single is Burg’s “most self-assured track yet.” Burg has also been included on Spotify heavy-hitter playlists like Lorem, Pollen and Fresh Finds, among others. Over the span of his recent releases, Burg has received a slew of support from Wonderland, NME, DORK, Ones to Watch and many more. Already a touring veteran at age 25,Burg has hit the road with the likes of Ashe, Jeremy Zucker, and Moonchild, with an ever-growing list ofaccomplishments showing no signs of slowing down. Plus, April and May 2022 saw sold out shows for Burg from LA’s Troubadour to New York’s Bowery Ballroom, complete with a crowd surf to “Dancing
Through the Mental Breakdown” here.
The latest track from Burg, “Chicago (Take It or Leave It),” sounds like running into an old friend, or a former flame. There’s a sweet timelessness it exists in, carried by a smooth electric guitar and sweet,
soulful vocals. Describing its origin, Burg explains, “I wrote and recorded this song in my house in Syracuse in Spring 2019, right around the time I graduated college. I had my best friends drive out
from Michigan, and we set up recording gear in every room of the house so we could capture the
sound of the rooms and walls.”
While on most of the forthcoming album Burg plays the majority, if not all of the instruments, this track features his own friends on the track, exuding a true atmosphere of friendship and connection. Burg continues, “Being one of the few songs on the record where I do not play all the instruments, I wanted the feeling of community and friendship I share with my friends to be tangible in the recording. Although it was recorded in Syracuse, I decided to place it in the
first 5-song “chapter” of the album, as it reflects the kind of uninhibited freedom of expression
and innocence that I feel was lost when I left school and entered the next stage of adulthood.”
https://youtu.be/hCu7Lxso8gw
Along with the track comes an accompanying video set in a pizza parlor, directed byJabari Canada and
edited by Wesley Sanchez (Lil Nas X, The Kid Laroi)where Burg plays a lonely pizza shop employee,
carefully constructing everything from the pizza box, to each ingredient of the pie. When complete, he
hand-delivers the box to an anonymous doorstep to reveal the physical record sitting inside the box to
conclude the video. An ode to the creative process rather than the final product, and his love of pizza,
Burg explains with the video, “I wanted to allude to the meticulousness and poignancy of the album
creation process, while maintaining a lighthearted atmosphere. I also love pizza.” Canada adds, “He’s a talented multi-instrumentalist who brought the same level of care and dedication to the music video process that an artist usually reserves for their music production. “Chicago” was a fun song to make a video for, and its catchy hook easily got stuck in my head days after the shoot. I hope the viewers find as much joy watching the video as we did when creating it.”
The new single follows the recently released indie-rock-inspired “Break The Rhythm, ” and its accompanying video, that kicks off the album’s second chapter and catches Burg in the midst of a tour.
Feeling unbound to anything and forced to confront change as he outgrows his childhood, the track sees
Burg wrestling with more existential thoughts and questions in search of what home might now look like now that his childhood home is in the rearview mirror.
With the forthcoming Infinitely Tall, and today’s “Chicago (Take It Or Leave It)” Charlie Burg establishes himself as one of the most promising young singer-songwriter’s of his generation. Layered, cinematic and his most realized work yet, the LP is the vehicle through which Burg redefines what home might look like as he makes his way through his twenties, away from the homes he once knew. “Chicago (Take It Or Leave It)” is out everywhere now, and the vivid 15-track album, Infinitely Tall, is available for pre-order now and due out August 19 via FADER Label. Connect with Charlie
on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube for more on the rising musician.
