In 2011, Steve Marion dropped an album that was the product of a year of spacious jamming in his guest bedroom and some incredibly post production work. He was signed as Delicate Steve to the Luaka Bop label, which immediately generated publicity for him and his touring band by creating an outrageous, unbelievable and completely false press release to send to media outlets along with his album. A work of instrumental brilliance, that album, “Wondervisions,” was followed a year later by “Positive Force,” a similar but refined sophomore effort. Now, five years later, Delicate Steve has released its vastly different new album entitled “This Is Steve.”
Despite a decent amount of media attention during the group’s formative years, “This Is Steve” released quietly several weeks ago to little fanfare. Despite this, fans of the group have still been buzzing about the album, praising it and voicing their complaints alike. The thing about “This Is Steve” is that it’s incredibly different from both prior albums in tone and feeling. The signature guitar and instrumentals are still the same, there’s still no vocals, and Steve’s still dropping some majorly complex riffs. But the songs feel and sound different structurally and aesthetically.
This makes a good degree of sense given the band’s internal changes over the last few years. While the other band members remain less of a primary focus, their influence is practically unmistakable on this album. To explain, “Wondervisions” was written and almost entirely recorded by Steve Marion alone. The only exceptions were some complimentary guitar parts performed but not written by one of Steve’s guitarist friends. A year later, Delicate Steve was still touring with the same lineup, and that guitarist friend became far more influential in writing the songs. “Positive Force” ended up becoming somewhat of a 70/30 split between Steve and the other guitarist, respectively. Now, after close to six years of touring with the same members, Delicate Steve has solidified into a band as opposed to Steve’s solo project. With “This Is Steve,” every member of the group had influence on the album, and it shows very clearly.
Delicate Steve’s first two albums were very warm, with a distinct, lightly crunchy blend of overdrive and distortion on the lead guitar, and anywhere from a mix of synth and acoustic guitar to heavily distorted power chords for background instrumentation. The percussion bordered on math-rock level drumming occasionally, but it could also be very laid back, letting the guitar do the work. It’s very difficult to pinpoint an exact sub-genre for Delicate Steve, but those first two albums had a lot going on for them, with psychedelia, soul, funk and math rock influences.
“This Is Steve” takes a new tone stylistically and has a much different blend of subgenres. However, the old style isn’t lost; it’s been mostly contained to songs like “Winners,” “Help” and “Driving.” The rest of the album takes turns between sounding like a mix of Delicate Steve and Dire Straits or sounding like a modern rock version of ‘80s glam pop set to the soundtrack of a Looney Toons animation. “This Is Steve” is best described as wacky, soulful, silly and fun, with a splash of chill thrown in. Make note, the album isn’t just one long goof; it’s very intentional and deliberate. Delicate Steve was clearly trying to do something new and creative here, and they’ve succeeded, creating what might be a new genre of “Cartoon Rock.”
For those looking for classic Delicate Steve, “This Is Steve” may be a tough sell. For yet others, this album may just not appeal. But for those out there in search of something new and original, something not afraid to be silly, fun and an all-around good time while retaining that modern rock sensibility, this album is going to be an absolute treat. With this album, the newly cemented members of Delicate Steve have put their collective feet down and proclaimed, “This Is Steve.”
