Champ de Mars, an indie rock band based in Alexandria, Virginia has released an ambitious, dark, and compelling third album titled Halloween Leaves.  The band’s previous two releases, 2016’s Back From the West EP and 2019’s Rancho Seco Victory garnered positive critical reviews for weaving alternative guitar tunings with intelligent lyric writing to form an unique musical voice which pulled influences from REM, Wilco, Radiohead, Built to Spill, and Sonic Youth.

In his latest release, Champs’ songwriter David Bruns experiments with new layers of piano, full choirs, and hints of hip-hop rhythms to form dark sonic tapestries combined with compelling, introspective lyricism. The album primarily focuses on the story of a couple’s existence in different rooms of a house in suburbia during the pandemic. There’s allusions to wedding dresses in closets and desires to ‘have a baby,’ but also to relationship dysfunction, substance abuse, and reconciliation. The album’s centerpiece may be ‘Leaves in Winter’ which courageously confronts the societal taboo topic of miscarriage and the grief that couples often experience from it.

Porch Apologies

Tomorrow

Ghosts in the Attic

Leaves in Winter

Monsters in the Kitchen

Benders in the Basement

Kids

Little Blue Lines

Wedding Dresses and Fancy Watches

Leaves in Fall

01 All Hail The Has Beens

track 3 of Champ de Mars album Rancho Seco Victory

email: subaudiox@yahoo.com  Champ de Mars is the latest project by longtime indie artist David Bruns.  It’s an amalgamation of various musicians he’s played and toured with over decades in music. 
Emerick’s career began in Northern California in the mid-nineties front various bands before settling into Bellstar, a mainstay of the Sacramento-San Francisco music scene from 1999-2006.  The band released two albums on Yak Records, and found significant college radio airplay.  
In 2006, Emerick moved to the east coast, taking up residence in Washington, D.C., where he released two solo records Maryland, and Virginia while simultaneously writing and self-publishing his first novel, The Silent Year. 
Back from the West was recorded at Navigator Studios in Alexandria, Virginia.

Champ de Mars

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