СТИВИ

 

One of my favourite songs of 2019 was Steve Cobby's acoustic guitar and mellotron beaut As Good As Gold, the opening song on his album Sweet Jesus (the one with the highly freaky, airbrushed cover art). It was inspired by the folk rock playing of Led Zep 3 as much as the Balearic sounds he's known for. Here, remind yourself or introduce yourself...

Steve has since then released two new albums, one in March this year, the Russian titled СТИВИ (Stevie) and then in May a follow up called Nostlagia Intensa. I thought I'd written about both but checking my back pages it appears I haven't written about either (although I did post his former group's first new material in twenty years, the new ep by Fila Brazillia, MMXX). Recording in his garden shed out in the East Riding Steve has moved to a more live instrument led sound on this year's pair. The familiar Cobby influences and sound are present- downtempo, jazzy, funk with washes of ambient sound, hip hop drums and seductive melodies. The song titles are as intriguing as ever- The Common Weal, The Hindu Kush, Dandelion Clocks, I'll Tickle Your Catastrophe, Swimming In Amber- and Steve's ever questing, always creative nature makes for sets of songs that are never dull and always full of wonderful moments. He's been keeping his guitars very close to hand in 2020, both albums filled with funky riffs, fluid runs and sparkling toplines. Having freed himself from the write/ record/ release cycle Steve has become a cottage industry, putting down tracks and working on them until there's enough for an album and then enjoying the freedom to release at will on the internet, especially via an artist friendly site like Bandcamp. Here is СТИВИ  and here is Nostalgia Intensa.