Delicate Steve
Wondervisions
THE REVIEW
The music produced and performed by the New Jersey band, Delicate Steve is something to chomp at. A mesh between hot fuzz electrics and contagious melodic riffs seems to be the framework, but that doesn’t mean the recipe remains constant—this is why you really listen.
Delicate Steve took to the Horseshoe this past Sunday, touring alongside the experimental staple of a band akron/family. Sharing such a life with a signature band like akron/family is a testament to the promise and praise already received by these non-cookie cutter music makers. Having played live for just over a year, it was good to see a tightly fused set fostered by woven interludes and a stretch of playful acoustic experiments.
Watching them jam wasn’t earth shattering or life-changing; but it scraped the core just enough to be hooked. Having hints of Animal Collective, Dirty Projectors and in all honesty, Hamilton’s Electroluminescent—Delicate Steve worked a style that had specs of familiarity with a heaping serving of fresh packed meat.
‘Butterfly’ was performed distinctly better than I had anticipated; you never know how the lack of vocals and influx of sounds translates on stage. After chatting with Marion and hearing some of the back story to how Delicate Steve came to be, it was refreshing to see a 23 year old warp a soundtrack so rhythmically weird and beautiful—the same man that had many reservations on even creating music in the first place.
Steve Marion is a multi-instrumentalist with a background playing in bands and helping record other musicians’ ‘greatness’, but going solo before knowing if the stimulus will be enough to hold audiences—that’s guts. Let’s be honest, there are enough beat makers that suck at it, yet still receive that “cool” classification simply because the creations are “different.”
The meticulously distorted and handmade instrumentals are handsomely formed with elements of folk, Mogwai-styled trip outs and thick coats of melodic rock. What hit the most was the offbeat synergy between the band, the crowd and the music. Not always perfect—with pauses and build-ups pressed throughout—the staggering meets clean packed songs that make up the album, “Wondervisions” seem to be reflective of Marion himself. Tracks like ‘Sugar Splash’ fed the audience with a looming bubbly hook, minus the cheese.
Delicate Steve’s music let’s you watch without thinking and feel without trying.
See the official video for ‘Butterfly’ directed by Sophie Peer:
The music produced and performed by the New Jersey band, Delicate Steve is something to chomp at. A mesh between hot fuzz electrics and contagious melodic riffs seems to be the framework, but that doesn’t mean the recipe remains constant—this is why you really listen.
Delicate Steve took to the Horseshoe this past Sunday, touring alongside the experimental staple of a band akron/family. Sharing such a life with a signature band like akron/family is a testament to the promise and praise already received by these non-cookie cutter music makers. Having played live for just over a year, it was good to see a tightly fused set fostered by woven interludes and a stretch of playful acoustic experiments.
Watching them jam wasn’t earth shattering or life-changing; but it scraped the core just enough to be hooked. Having hints of Animal Collective, Dirty Projectors and in all honesty, Hamilton’s Electroluminescent—Delicate Steve worked a style that had specs of familiarity with a heaping serving of fresh packed meat.
‘Butterfly’ was performed distinctly better than I had anticipated; you never know how the lack of vocals and influx of sounds translates on stage. After chatting with Marion and hearing some of the back story to how Delicate Steve came to be, it was refreshing to see a 23 year old warp a soundtrack so rhythmically weird and beautiful—the same man that had many reservations on even creating music in the first place.
Steve Marion is a multi-instrumentalist with a background playing in bands and helping record other musicians’ ‘greatness’, but going solo before knowing if the stimulus will be enough to hold audiences—that’s guts. Let’s be honest, there are enough beat makers that suck at it, yet still receive that “cool” classification simply because the creations are “different.”
The meticulously distorted and handmade instrumentals are handsomely formed with elements of folk, Mogwai-styled trip outs and thick coats of melodic rock. What hit the most was the offbeat synergy between the band, the crowd and the music. Not always perfect—with pauses and build-ups pressed throughout—the staggering meets clean packed songs that make up the album, “Wondervisions” seem to be reflective of Marion himself. Tracks like ‘Sugar Splash’ fed the audience with a looming bubbly hook, minus the cheese.
Delicate Steve’s music let’s you watch without thinking and feel without trying.
See the official video for ‘Butterfly’ directed by Sophie Peer:
To download ‘Butterfly’ head here http://tinyurl.com/4qkjtp9
THE INTERVIEW
Explain ‘Wondervisions’ and putting out an album solo, was it nerve-racking?
Well it was the first album I’ve ever made (November 2009). I made 4 of the songs really fast.
How fast?
Like within a week, 4 recordings. Seriously this is all totally new to me. I was nervous to show it, all-around. I had never made anything entirely myself. I first showed it to musicians that I really liked, so that was nerve-racking just to wonder if I was going to hear back from them and what they’d say. I was curious of their opinion. Then I did hear some good things back so that was cool.
So what’s pre-Delicate Steve like, what was your life?
I’m totally music-based, until about two Novembers ago I was recording, being in bands, recording for other bands, not really thinking that I could make music myself even though I had a recording studio in the house. Ha.
Your music is experimental, instrumental and meticulously crafted—how did you make it?
Well I bought a drum machine one day from the Salvation Army for like 5 bucks, a little Casio thing. One day I turned the speed up all the way and thought mhm this sounds or reminds me of being on a train so I was like ok, then I added some guitar in the background. I started to just like it, I was never thinking how can I finish this or make it sound like that.
How did the whole Sophie Peer partnership happen and the idea behind the ‘Butterfly’ video?
That was totally Sophie Peer. I mean we talked and threw stuff out there but she said she wanted to do a music video with a chainsaw. So we found a guy in upstate New York luckily. She was so nice, basically did it all for free—we didn’t really have a budget. Once we found the chainsaw man we went from there. Mickey even got in on it (points to Mickey, bandmate and bud perched on the couch searching for hotels).
Mickey: Ya I got to blow the bubbles, it was supposed to be a fire breather but he didn’t show up so I filled in.
Oh Mickey.
What/Who do you draw from when you put all these sounds together?
Well, Mickey got me into Ponytail. I hated them at first, thought they were stupid then I saw them live. I didn’t know new music though, I was really into 70’s stuff and thought new stuff was crap, but Mickey was more aware of it all living in New York and going to school. So ya Ponytail is the biggest inspiration. The Dirty Projectors and older stuff like Alice Coltrane are also influences for sure.
What’s it like playing with a well-known band like akron/family? It’s kind of a big deal.
I feel super grateful to be with these guys. I feel like it’s important to get to see them every night and I’m learning a lot from watching them play. I just want to keep interested in music and they are helping us realize a lot.
Bored yet?
Not a boring feeling, you just feel like you’re not totally there yet. Cause you really want to be, so that kind of sucks, sometimes it’s hard to snap back. You never remember tying your shoes anymore; we don’t want to feel that about our music, sometimes it does. We have good nights and bad nights—Montreal was a good night, New York, Chicago—once you have a good night you want more.
You’ve been playing live now since early 2010, I bet there were a lot of lulls and highs during the last year. True?
Ya when we started playing in January 2010 it was all really exciting, we had a nervous energy and were excited to play new music. Then we went through periods where we weren’t as excited, so we had to sit down and think about what we could do, stopped holding onto what ‘you’ think is important just cause—it’s a learning thing. Once we addressed that we started playing way better.
If you could open/play with any band who would it be?
I’m totally happy with this right now (points upstairs to the blissful sounds of akron/family).
You know what man, I’m not even going to probe any further, I get it.
Simply put, Delicate Steve is a real breed who idles the word ‘totally’ and enjoys a solid breakfast in the morning. Delicate Steve is currently touring the U.S. ending out the stretch in California on April 9th, 2011.
- by Kathryn Kyte
Photos courtesy of Myspace & Luaka Bop
THE INTERVIEW
Explain ‘Wondervisions’ and putting out an album solo, was it nerve-racking?
Well it was the first album I’ve ever made (November 2009). I made 4 of the songs really fast.
How fast?
Like within a week, 4 recordings. Seriously this is all totally new to me. I was nervous to show it, all-around. I had never made anything entirely myself. I first showed it to musicians that I really liked, so that was nerve-racking just to wonder if I was going to hear back from them and what they’d say. I was curious of their opinion. Then I did hear some good things back so that was cool.
So what’s pre-Delicate Steve like, what was your life?
I’m totally music-based, until about two Novembers ago I was recording, being in bands, recording for other bands, not really thinking that I could make music myself even though I had a recording studio in the house. Ha.
Your music is experimental, instrumental and meticulously crafted—how did you make it?
Well I bought a drum machine one day from the Salvation Army for like 5 bucks, a little Casio thing. One day I turned the speed up all the way and thought mhm this sounds or reminds me of being on a train so I was like ok, then I added some guitar in the background. I started to just like it, I was never thinking how can I finish this or make it sound like that.
How did the whole Sophie Peer partnership happen and the idea behind the ‘Butterfly’ video?
That was totally Sophie Peer. I mean we talked and threw stuff out there but she said she wanted to do a music video with a chainsaw. So we found a guy in upstate New York luckily. She was so nice, basically did it all for free—we didn’t really have a budget. Once we found the chainsaw man we went from there. Mickey even got in on it (points to Mickey, bandmate and bud perched on the couch searching for hotels).
Mickey: Ya I got to blow the bubbles, it was supposed to be a fire breather but he didn’t show up so I filled in.
Oh Mickey.
What/Who do you draw from when you put all these sounds together?
Well, Mickey got me into Ponytail. I hated them at first, thought they were stupid then I saw them live. I didn’t know new music though, I was really into 70’s stuff and thought new stuff was crap, but Mickey was more aware of it all living in New York and going to school. So ya Ponytail is the biggest inspiration. The Dirty Projectors and older stuff like Alice Coltrane are also influences for sure.
What’s it like playing with a well-known band like akron/family? It’s kind of a big deal.
I feel super grateful to be with these guys. I feel like it’s important to get to see them every night and I’m learning a lot from watching them play. I just want to keep interested in music and they are helping us realize a lot.
Bored yet?
Not a boring feeling, you just feel like you’re not totally there yet. Cause you really want to be, so that kind of sucks, sometimes it’s hard to snap back. You never remember tying your shoes anymore; we don’t want to feel that about our music, sometimes it does. We have good nights and bad nights—Montreal was a good night, New York, Chicago—once you have a good night you want more.
You’ve been playing live now since early 2010, I bet there were a lot of lulls and highs during the last year. True?
Ya when we started playing in January 2010 it was all really exciting, we had a nervous energy and were excited to play new music. Then we went through periods where we weren’t as excited, so we had to sit down and think about what we could do, stopped holding onto what ‘you’ think is important just cause—it’s a learning thing. Once we addressed that we started playing way better.
If you could open/play with any band who would it be?
I’m totally happy with this right now (points upstairs to the blissful sounds of akron/family).
You know what man, I’m not even going to probe any further, I get it.
Simply put, Delicate Steve is a real breed who idles the word ‘totally’ and enjoys a solid breakfast in the morning. Delicate Steve is currently touring the U.S. ending out the stretch in California on April 9th, 2011.
- by Kathryn Kyte
Photos courtesy of Myspace & Luaka Bop
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