Artist Spotlight: Chase Shelleé

The sunburnt songstress Chase Shelleé has been at the center of a whirlwind of activity for the past several weeks, but was able to find a few minutes to chat last Wednesday. She’d just come in from an entire day of shooting her music video with Magic Haus Films and had spent hours on the New Smyrna shore wading in and out of the ocean wearing a long dress to create the perfect look and feel to accompany her soulful lyrics.    
Chase celebrated a soft opening for her latest album last week at Studio Live USA in Oviedo. The intimate affair was attended by close friends and family including her parents who had come in from their home in the Philippines to commemorate this special occasion with their daughter.
The album’s official release will take place this Saturday night at Henao Contemporary Center where Shelleé has partnered with sculptor Diego Inkususal and painter Samantha Shumaker. The three will fill the space with music, sculpture, art and friends, but the public is invited to join in the festivities.
Her album, “High on Maybe,” is Chase’s second studio release and began percolating a few years ago after she was recovering from ill health back in the Philippines. This missionaries’ daughter grew up over seas telling and writing stories as some of her favorite past times second only to singing in church.
The young phenom earned a partial scholarship to the American Music and Dramatic Arts Academy in New York where, in a funny twist of fate, Chase contracted West Nile Virus here in the US. After falling sick, she returned to the Philippines to convalesce and recuperate; her two-and-a-half year long recovery would turn out to be a fantastic gift to the young songstress.
During this enforced sabbatical, Shelleé surrounded herself with old writing and immersed herself in music from which she drew inspiration and strength; before long she was healthy enough to be out singing her freshly-minted songs. Chase’s mother, with a forward-looking attitude that was addictively infectious, served as seed for her title track “High on Maybe.” “Sure, I took some poetic license,” she laughed at the song about our human nature to fly from pillar to post for the promise of new possibility, new hope and new potential.
Her fusion of styles blends jazz, blues, rock and modern elements with her strong, clear voice and biting lyrics.
“When I’d go to blues clubs or jazz clubs, sometimes I would feel a little like it was a ‘members only’ formula and like I was surprising myself and the listener,” she confessed. “I flirt with jazz, and I have a good relationship with rock and I love different musical elements that I don't know how to define. That’s where I fell under the title ‘original blues and indie rock’.”
As if to prove how many hats she can stylishly wear, Shelleé follows up the progressively rock-ish album namesake with a hot and smoky melange that follows the arc of this release’s narrative.
 “I had the idea of the storyline [for this album] and I chose songs accordingly. I just knew that for my second album I wanted to stick to a certain storyline and I have been writing so many songs, that it was easy for me to use and develop songs that would work with the story I wanted to tell. I found songs that worked with it and put them together almost like chapters in a book— This album is really a continuation of my storytelling,” she explained.
Join Chase Shelleé for her album release party this Saturday, July 23 at the Henao Contemporary Center in Orlando. This multi-media evening that will feature sculptor Diego Inkusual, painter Samantha Shumaker as well as a host of musicians including saxophone, violin and Lauren Lester with whom she’ll perform a few duets. Tickets are just $10 at the door. Come one, come all!

Jessica Pirani can be reached at JessieBerger@yahoo.com.