Chanel Beads AKA: Shane Lavers, announces his signing to Jagjaguwar (Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Sharon Van Etten), along with the news he has shared single/video, “Police Scanner.” Lavers started Chanel Beads as an outlet for his affecting songs that he writes, records, and produces using a mix of synthetic and real instruments. Chanel Beads established a presence in New York’s DIY scene and corners of the experimental music internet. Lavers is often joined on stage by close collaborator, songwriter, and producer Maya McGrory and experimental instrumentalist Zachary Paul, who weave in their improvised voices and instruments, making Lavers’ hard-to-place songs.

New single “Police Scanner” employs an unconventional structure to ease listeners into an enveloping mix of imperfect guitar strums, metallic drums, and layered strings. Interjected noises like the sound of a person yelping and a text-to-speech sample create texture, gleaming amid the fried production. It evokes both childlike navieté and post-modern anxiety.

The lyrics relate to feelings of desperation, and an inability to act on those feelings. Lavers says that “it’s an anger at the lack of virtue in the world,” while also recognizing that same absence within yourself. Ultimately though, the sentiment of the song is more sad or empathetic, rather than directly angry or full of blame. The accompanying video edited by Alexa Terfloth is similarly mercurial — a collage of NYC skylines, unsettling online ephemera, and live footage from Chanel Beads’ storied DIY shows shot by Shane Roberts, Jackie Young, and Rin Parker.

Chanel Beads began with Lavers using DJ software to mix together voice memos, wanting to portray sound how you “experience it in the moment,” he explains — whether its a pop hit mixed in with the sound of people talking at a bar and the hum of the air conditioner, or the thin sound of a clip played out of a phone speaker. He eventually began singing atop his eclectic soundscapes, which layer crunchy sonics, hypnotic rhythms, and charged lyrics, and released his Zut Alors EP in 2018.

Channel Beads 2023 Tour Dates

Wed. Nov. 22 – Amsterdam, NL @ Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ *
Sat. Nov. 25 – Copenhagen, DK @ Ny Lille Klub
Tue. Nov. 28 – London, UK @ Flo’s Morning Show on NTS
Wed. Nov. 29 – London, UK @ The George Tavern ^
Thu. Nov. 30 – London, UK @ Spanners (DJ Set)
Thu. Dec. 14 – Brooklyn, NY @ Eavesdrop (DJ Set)
Sat. Jan. 20, 2024 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom (GCT Abortion Benefit)

* = with Loraine James
^ = with Organ Tapes

Order “Police Scanner” by Chanel Beads HERE