I would love to sit here and tell you I woke up today and found your new favourite album, but unfortunately that would be a lie. You see dear reader, as phenomenal as the new stecker project is, I have not gone to bed yet, it is currently 2:08 am, so I did not wake up and find it.

stecker is your favourite producer’s favourite producer, so long as your favourite producer is not Robert Barnes and you’re actually pulling from a pretty large list and not objective favourites (because I am indecisive). Suncatcher is the first full length project from stecker and it comes out swinging with a loving blend of top dollar production and down to earth bedroom style recordings. From front to back it covers a lot of ground in it’s soundscape from Everything‘s trap distilled beat paired with this albums signature blend of vocal effects, to the titular Suncatcher‘s lo-fi hiphop instrumental and vibe that feels like I’m sitting in the passenger seat of a car driving through a sunset. What does that specifically mean you may ask? I don’t know man, I just work here.

To get a little deeper I want to cover some personal highlights off the project. The intro track sets the initial vibe, with it’s lush but not overbearing synth work, acoustic drums and immensely emotional vocals. It’s messy, it’s raw, and it’s personal. A peak into a much larger picture, the mind of a man many miles away. And just when you think you’ve caught the vibe and the track is ending, for some reason the absolute madman added an insane dubstep-esc beatswitch, only to end it with a simple “alright that’s enough”. I audibly laughed. Instant points to you Mr. stecker.

My favourite track on the project is probably Everything. It’s a track that feels like it’s taking conventions of a time tested genre and bending them to a sound intrinsically defined by it’s chops and synth work. Laying all my cards on the table, when I was getting my start doing music I was super invested in trap right as it was transitioning to its future bass era (which I was also into but not as much), so this song even in it’s relative simplicity scratches a part of my brain that’s existed forever. I love the basics of the bass line and drums juxtaposed against the synth strings and chopped vocals, not to mention the descending run ending the chorus with a emphatic “oh my god” as it melts away. Everything is a song that pulls up to the party and knows exactly who they are (that being “that bitch”). It’s energy is strong, and it’s a song that will make my god forsaken 7am drive feel just a tad more like I’m the main character.

Skipping to the outro track, What You Need is a track that’s so wonderfully analog in it’s synth choices. The sounds of this song are like rays of sun directly to my brain in the way they swell and morph together, creating this gorgeous atmosphere to act as the backdrop to vocals that really hit your heart. It’s been a while since I’ve heard a project with vocals that genuinely conveyed the level of emotional depth that they do on this project, and it’s not only refreshing, but downright beautiful. The song while not being particularly vocal heavy uses them to almost act as a transition between its many movements, ranging from the atmospheric intro, to the heavily sidechained cutaways, to the “false” ending and it’s simple trance inspired kick/snare drum pattern. It’s a lot to take in, but it’s all wonderful. I mention a false ending as well, because with over a full minute left in the song, what we’ve been shown so far ends to give way to a single upright piano and voice. A combination nearly as old as music itself, but put together in a way that tugs at your heart in it’s sheer beauty. A perfect ending to any album but especially this one. And just as we began, this song too ends with a simple “yeah, sure”.

To end this article I honestly think there’s nothing I could say that could top the sweet words of the man himself. Above all else in music, I think loving it is the most important thing as both a creator and consumer. When creating from scratch its so easy to get in your head, get frustrated, get lost in it all, but it’s also an opportunity to remember why you do it all, and make something that’s a lovingly crafted piece of yourself, and that’s what Suncatcher was for stecker.

Making this felt like falling in love with music all over again and showed me all the different colors that get cast through the people you love and the life you live.

(source: stecker on instagram)

and that’s all anyone could ever ask for.