ST3PH – Queen City Sounds and Art

ST3PH employs the metaphor of traveling between dimensions and becoming aware of alternate universes and existences for liberation through personal transformation on the single “Spaced Out.” With coolly luminous keyboard sounds in the beat as well as accelerating synth flourishes and percussion accents it sounds like a synthesis of dub, trap and darkwave. While it wouldn’t quite fit to compare the song to something by Danny Brown, it shares that genre bending quality in which Goth-y dance music and hip-hop compliment each other so well as to create a different flavor and mood for both in one song. The story could be just another struggle and striving song but given a different kind of musical context it takes on another dimension giving the song a greater thematic depth than expected. Listen to “Spaced Out” on Soundcloud, follow ST3PH at the links provided and look out for the TRIME Vol. II EP due later in 2020.

https://soundcloud.com/st3phofficial
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ST3PH_Babylon1_sm — ST3PH, photo courtesy the artist

ST3PH teams up with Karl Williams for the track “Babylon” for a song that critiques compromising one’s values to fit in line with the values and culture of the power and economic elite. The beat utilizes some trap production but pairs it with a phasing, slow bouncing synth line and an intro that sounds like music one might hear at a mass transit station late at night—that lonely yet clear arpeggio intended to soothe rather than alert. Using the term “Babylon” as Rastafarians used for the same socio-cultural phenomenon in a variety of contexts, the video shows a figure who resembles and presumably represents Boris Johnson being kidnapped and shown out of the places of power alongside other authority figures. Not violently but in a way that leaves him and them confused like they never anticipated being put out of power without knowing how it happened or when that process started when in fact it starts in the consciousness of the oppressed who are tired of fake populists and authoritarians making all the decisions impacting their lives and coming to realize that all power is granted and can easily dissolve if people decide to place that power elsewhere. ST3PH’s more contemplative trading off with Karl Williams’ more angular, hard delivery is an interesting contrast showing how hard and soft power can work together to deliver an important message both in a song and in life. Watch the video for “Babylon” on YouTube as well as the debut episode of I AM ST3PH “Feels like its gonna go Bang!” where you can learn more about the story of the songwriter. Connect with ST3PH at the links below.