I’m gonna take a stab in the dark here; there ain’t that much to do in Saskatoon. Let’s generalise. Some time can be spent hacking away at ginormous stalactite icicles that form in the eyebrows and eyelashes like some interloping glacial beast from Blackstrap Lake. And there’s the bears, they can help fill in the day. Feed them some biscuits. See what happens. But one thing I’m learning as I enter the autumnal season of my transgression on this here mortal coil is that hot dang there are some great musicians from that crazy town. May I introduce you to Steig?
Like some ditch-crazed Neil Young/Palace Brothers hybrid devouring a 1950s wedding band, Steig -a project masterminded by Saskatoonian musician Matthew Maier- envelopes all that is warm and cozy in 1970s west coast Americana and spits it out in lashes of contemporary folkishness far better suited for today’s finicky earholes.
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Whilst digital music and file swapping and all that modern hoodoo is continually canned by hard-headed analog animals the world over, the medium does have its advantages. One particular advantage has been swooped up and brilliantly used by Matthew Maier here, as he utilises the chops of multiple drummers around the world to play on his album. He has never met any of them. An extraordinary notion to a dinosaur, but it’s a brave new world and this type of sharing and caring is here to stay whether we like it or not. Here, Maier uses the technological advantage to perfection, opting to provide each drummer a loose template of the given song structure that allows the drummer the freedom to include their own flavour, thus putting an indelible stamp of their own on the album. I like it!
As for the remaining instrumentation, well it goes back to that not too much to do in Saskatoon thing; Maier plays piano, keyboard, acoustic and electric guitars, lap steel, bass, ukulele and harmonica on the album. Who has time to learn all that?! Irregardless, he plays each instrument masterfully, showing an aplomb and understanding of notes and allowing each one enough space to breathe and roll on organically. The end result? A creation of dirty folkish soundscapes laced with introverted yet immediate lyrics that can occasionally sweep off the road at some rather oblique angles. And on songs such as the croonish ‘I Want You’, a little bit of saccharine rounds off this highly original album to perfection.
I’m a fan!
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Find Steig on: Bandcamp, Soundcloud & Spotify
