After a long wait Straightjacket, the new record from Steven Delopolous, finally released on Thanksgiving Day. If you’ve been reading this blog for long, you’ve heard me talk about Steven’s music before. I first blogged about Straightjacket nine months ago, after I saw Steven play live for the first time. He played several of the songs from the new record then as well as a couple from Me Died Blue, his first solo record. Back in June, Steven told me that he had the final mastered copy of the record in hand but was still trying to work out distribution. I guess he decided to go ahead and release it as a digital download until something else works out, as that is the only way it will available for now. I know he has been in talks with different labels, so I’m hoping it will get a wide brick-and-morter distribution at some point.
If you know Me Died Blue at all, (and it’s one of my favorite albums), the first thing you’ll notice about Straightjacket is that the production is not nearly as full. Because I’ve heard Steven play most of these songs live several times over the last nine months, in some ways Straightjacket isn’t too far off from sounding like a live concert bootleg. And in Steven’s case, that’s not a bad thing. One of the reasons I love seeing him play live is because of the spontaneity in the concerts, and Monroe Jones, who produced this project with Steven, was able to capture that spontaneity in the studio and expand upon it without loosing anything. So start with what Steven does in concerts, bring in Monroe to join him in tastefully adding piano and strings here and choir there, a little percussion where needed, bits and pieces of the Greek Orthodox liturgy in the form of chant poking around the corners of a couple songs, and the resulting masterpiece is well worth your time.
On his myspace page, Steven described Straightjacket this way:
I would love to say this record is a sort of crucifixion story. A journey of the individual metamorphosis. Me Died Blue touched on those issues, and Straightjacket realizes and renegotiates. It’s sitting down to dinner with myself, having to face consequences. “Ruin of the Beast” deals with this duality: when the two halves encounter each other and realize they work together as the whole. I’m learning that it’s separation from God that causes fear, disconnecting us from love and from our true identities
Ruin of the Beast, like most of Steven’s lyrics, will doubtless be revealing new ideas and interpretations years down the road, for those who care to pay attention. Check out the beauty of the poetry and the layers of meaning in just the first 90 seconds: Look up, old friend, watch the ruin of the beast / on the top of the hill being slain by the prodigal son / for the glory and the making of his will / being bound by his hand, being lifted and shifted and molded from sand // they slashed off his head and rolled in his blood / and wrote on the walls “we’ve escaped the big flood” / but highways to byways and oceans to creeks / the silence was screaming and aching and steaming / and hoping for one soul to listen at least // and never a whimper and never a notion / they banned all seduction not even an ocean / well it’s castles to ruins and motion to cease / they sliced off his head for the ruin of the beast. //
Here’s the full track list:
Ruin of the Beast
She Held My Hand
May I Always Keep My Feet Upon the Ground
The Great Conductor
Interlude
Fire Away
Wallfly
Work To Be Done
As If Love Was a Sword
Open Your Eyes
Halt
The Dancer
You can get your copy of Straightjacket either through Steven’s website or through iTunes.