INTRODUCING
THE DEBUT EP IS OUT NOW.
Babilonia — guided by producer Jeremy Little — found a sonic, lyrical language to explore tenacious buoyancy in the face of complex grief. Reclaiming and harmonizing the parts of herself she had been lending to other people’s music for so many years, Chavez resists melancholy and embraces bittersweetness through a vibrant current of energy that becomes, song by song, an arrival to a place of wholeness and peace.
LISTEN to If I Ever Think To Double Back
Stepping outside the gilded cage of her life as a globetrotting backup singer, Celia Chavez assumed a brand new moniker, Babilonia, to release her newest EP, If I Ever Think To Double Back. Draped in a tapestry made of strands of music she's lived and loved — from her parents’ jazz and soul records in her hometown of Seattle, to the vibrant scene of New York City’s Lower East Side, to the songcraft capital of Laurel Canyon — Chavez finally takes her place at the helm of her own formidable studio band as a compelling frontperson. Written during a painful two year break from her life partner, If I Ever Think to Double Back is a record of liberation against a backdrop of deep cultural change. Reclaiming and harmonizing parts of herself she lent to other artists’ music for so many years, Babilonia resists melancholy and embraces bittersweetness through a vibrant current of energy that becomes, song by song, an arrival to a place of wholeness and peace.
“Babilonia is my grandmother’s name,” Chavez shares. “She died young, so I never knew her. I’m only now learning details about her life in the Philippines. Embracing her name feels like reaching back and inviting her and my mom to sing with me.” The name has always held mystique for Chavez, along with its origin linked to the city of Babel, where legend says the peoples of the world were scattered and human speech fractured into many languages. “This project calls home all the voices I have summoned while in service to so many distinctive artists. Babilonia contains all my vulnerability and power, joy and imperfection.”