Chris Costalupes

States Of Possession

Regular price $24.99

States Of Possession is the debut, full length album by Chris Costalupes.

Released: July 19, 2024

Pressing Info: First press; Bone White/Olive Green (Label variant of 96) • Bone White w/ Olive Green & Aqua Blue splatter (Retail variant of 154) • Black (Band Variant of 273), Test Pressing (x10) • White Label (x27; features screen-printed jacket, center labels and insert, signed & numbered. Alternate artwork by Gavin Tiemeyer)

"On his first full-length album, States Of Possession (Corporat Records), Costalupes
frames a life in the throes of reclamation with a vigorous mix of swaggering rock
n’ roll and reflective Americana. “I was going through a lot of changes while
writing and recording this album,” admits the Portland, Oregon-based artist. “I
reevaluated my life, and realized a lot of things about the way I was living weren’t
working.”


Previously, Costalupes established himself in the Pacific Northwest through his
associations and contributions to bands such as VHS, Smoker Dad, The Rare
Forms, and Family Worship Center. In 2020, Costalupes released his first single,
“When I Come Down,” and a year later followed it with the 7-song EP, Exit
Material.


It was during a time of beautiful uncertainty that Costalupes headed into a gnarly
makeshift studio in the basement of an industrial complex to track the 9-song
album States Of Possession. The sessions were frenetic and freewheeling, featuring
a loose collective of local musician friends, including engineer, producer, and
multi-instrumentalist Ben Roth of Tacoma, Washington’s Royal Room.


At the time of these recordings, Costalupes was reevaluating the role of drugs and
alcohol in his life, so States Of Possession chronicles a profound transition. Some
songs were written before big changes, deciphered from hazy late-night phone
recordings. Some songs were written mid-transformation—one in the middle of an
airport the day before a session. And some songs were written while tracking. It
was a time of fevered creativity for Costalupes as he transformed his life.


Costalupes’s writing exudes an emotional immediacy. Redemption, regret, and
self-reflection course through his hard-bitten roots rock, dredging up memories of
the Gun Club’s Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Gram Parsons, and The Blasters’s Dave Alvin.
This is shit-kicking heartbreak, interwoven with teardrop pedal steel guitars,
twanging lead guitars, and folksy acoustic that achieve something of a gritty
transcendence." - Lorne Behrman

Tracklisting: 

1. States Of Possession

2. Falling Sickness 

3. Door Shut Closed

4. Lay It On Me

5. Snake Song (Townes Van Zandt cover)

6. Recovery

7. Things I Dread

8. Lion Trap (Mark Jones cover)

9. You're Not Here Anymore