I’ve been a fan of Steven Delopoulos for a little while now. I regularly get burned out on the huge influx of bubble gum music that is thrown at me from both secular and Christian media outlets. I get tired of simplistic lyrics that require no thought or digging for meaning. I get tired of over-processed vocals that are so pitch corrected they end up sounding like soulless robots.
It’s not that I can’t enjoy a good pop tune. I can, and do. But it doesn’t take long for me to get sick of it. I relate it to what it’s like to eat cotton candy. By the time you’ve eaten half of it, you start feeling sick. You find yourself craving something organic. Something real.
That’s where Steven Delopoulos comes in for me. He has just released a new album called “Straightjacket”. You can download it from his website for a low price right now. It’s excellent. Now, if you are looking for fast-food lyrics and instant gratification music, you may be disappointed (then again, maybe your musical pallet will be expanded?). Some of his music is clearly born from moments of struggle. Lyrically it’s more like poetry that only gives a framework for the thought and then makes you dig for the rest. Not to mention his guitar work is stellar.
This is not your typical CCM fodder. And that’s why I like it.
Derek Webb (formally of Caedmon’s Call, now solo) says this:
Steven Delopoulos is a complete mystery to me. His music is full of a transcendent wonder and poetic grit that I don’t hear coming from any other contemporary artists. Straightjacket is a strange journey of language and melody that I never seem to grow tired of revisiting…I’m still completely baffled as to how he does it.
Here are two videos featuring songs from the album. The first starts with a brief explanation from Steven on his songwriting process and then a live studio performance of “Another Day”. The second video is a really cool video rendition of a song called “The Ruin of the Beast”.
UPDATE:
The album is now available on iTunes, DRM Free.
Enjoy. And after you’re done watching, shut off your Chris Tomlin CD and download the album. If you want to hear more, visit his MySpace page to hear more songs from the album.
[tags]Steven Delopoulos, straightjacket, new album, download, new music, CCM, folk, folk rock, Anoher Day, Ruin of the Beast[/tags]
Thanks for this Ben – excellent stuff. I can imagine Rich Mullins getting excited about this guy.
I know what you mean about the cotton candy music. That’s why sometimes I just have to crank up something raw like Nirvana, for example. But then that leaves me disturbed. I haven’t heard of Steven Delopoulos until now but I LOVE his work. Thanks for turning me on to this!
I was actually thinking how cool it would have been for Steven D. and Rich M. to collaborate on some music. Oh well… I guess they will have to collaborate in heaven!
I should mention that the song in the first video (“Another Day”) is NOT from the new album. That song is from “Me Died Blue” which I do not own yet.
He is very talented. I’m amazed at his guitar skills. I could listen to this in my car while I’m driving it through his vibrato, though. Just kidding, I think he would be great to see at an intimate coffee shop concert.
His songwriting reminds me of Carey Rowland.
Dagnabbit! Now all I can hear is his vibrato…