Multi-talented artist, music producer, and founder of Le Steez, Chase Stephen LeBrun was born in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. This is where his musical journey began. Learning piano before his love for Rock music, it took Chase Stephen beating Guitar Hero II on expert mode to pick up a guitar and start blast off on his music-making journey.
Chase Stephen’s music projects are currently geared towards the Lo-fi community. He continues to work with and support other artists in various genres through his independent label and brand Le Steez. His interest in Chillhop music has led him to a unique and creative style of having Lo-fi beats backup lush, jazzy, and melodic guitar hooks throughout his current music.
Chase Stephen’s latest single, “Apollo,” accurately takes off in a true outer-worldly fashion. “Apollo” submerges the listener in a theatre-like surround sound ambiance with the production elements coming at you from every angle possible. You are taken on a complete sonic voyage as you experience a well-rounded presentation through real-life instruments and versatile midi samples.
Accompanying the glorious instrumental recording of “Apollo,” we have cosmic visuals, quite literally, to offer up a full experience for your senses. Collaborating with Humble Radio for the music video, the main theme of an astronaut traveling the solar system in search of his father lost to space is captured. Various shots from the film Ad Astra starring Brad Pitt can be scenes as we pan from multiple shots of the featured film. A top-quality Blockbuster production rate showcases astronauts, rocket ships, and the galaxy as we may or may not know it. The visuals perfectly pair with this composition like a fine wine. The passion that is exuded through this piece has you anticipating what is next to come in the instrumentation as you hang on to every note heard. The decadent guitar riffs strummed throughout “Apollo” have a mind of their own as they remain the centerpiece encouraging you to get lost in the music Chase Stephen intricately crafts.
Hello Chase and welcome to BuzzMusic. This piece of work is truly triumphant. From start to finish, we feel the story come to life. What inspired you to create this record?
This song kinda came out of nowhere since I planned to record acoustic singer/songwriter music after leaving my engineering job to pursue a career in music. I remember recording the intro riff for a video like 2 years ago and thought it sounded spacey...I think I came across the video right before I decided to commit to my production endeavors (haha). Knowing that producers sample lots of sounds I felt like my first production had to have a bunch so I searched for spacey samples which led me to NASA's official library of royalty-free sounds and that's when I really started to get inspired. My favorite sounds from NASA included audio recordings such as a Marsquake, lightning on Jupiter, an original launch countdown sequence from the Apollo 11 mission, and the ignition of rocket thrusters engaging; I think adding them to the mix complemented the guitar leads and really brought the song to life. Aside from the creative influences behind this track, I think it also came to be because I'm kind of a space-nerd so this song may have been my way of channeling different areas of my interests (haha). The Crew Dragon Launch back in May also played a role in the outcome of this song because it happened while I was in the middle of writer's block and it gave me the motivation to finish the song. I hope to license this track for a space video game and maybe even the upcoming movie that's supposed to be filmed at the International Space Station featuring Tom Cruise and directed by Doug Liman.
The visuals pair with the song in such a fitting manner! What made you decide to choose the "Apollo" pre-release social media promo content?
I launched my own record label and brand around the same time I released "Apollo" to create a community where artists support artists. While keeping this in mind I connected with some really talented visual artists on Instagram who primarily focused on space art and got to know them a little bit. After sending many of them my song before release they thought it would be a great idea for both of us to share collaborative content using their animations in sync with "Apollo". I scheduled this content for the 9 days leading up to release day and posted 1 teaser each day as if it was a countdown launch sequence. As the promo progressed you could see how the content depicted the beginning of the space adventure on Earth before the last day of the promo which ended with a Moon landing scene.
How long did “Apollo” take you to create? What was the creative process that went into the making of this song?
"Apollo" was my debut single as an artist and it was the first song I ever fully recorded, produced, mixed, and mastered by myself so aside from any marketing or graphic design (which I also mostly did myself) involved with the release, I'd say it took me about a month, mostly because I had never done any of it before.
What would you like listeners to feel when they hear “Apollo?"
I'd like listeners to feel immersed in a space odyssey from beginning to end; from leaving Earth to landing on the Moon. I tried to make all the song elements cohesive to illustrate the journey of the Apollo 11 moon landing mission.
What can listeners anticipate to hear next from you Chase?
I have a handful of lo-fi instrumental tracks that I need to wrap up and release as well as some collaborations I'm working on with other artists. I mainly got into producing and mixing because I wasn't quite getting the sound I was looking for when working with others. Now that I feel more competent in these areas I plan to get back to my own lyrical projects at the beginning of 2021 which means my sound will most likely be evolving towards the R&B and acoustic singer/songwriter genres.