How a young trio from New Haven, Connecticut grew from backing the likes of Alicia Keys, Lauryn Hill, and 50 Cent to carving their own jazz n’ funk flourished psychedelic pop must be quite the story.
However, it’s not a tale The Stepkids sonically saddle the listener with on their endlessly colourful sophomore effort, but their intriguing background certainly informs it.
While their eponymous 2011 debut was a soupy but seasoned mix that looked at soul-funk and RnB through a hazy lens of psychedelic production so redolent of the ’70s, Troubadour finds them stepping into the next decade.
Taking in ’80s-branded plastic soul, day-glo keyboards, old skool DJ cuts, trilling horns, and neon flourishes – and that’s just on the irresistible shake of ‘The Lottery’ alone – Troubadour is a vibrant, flashy listen.
The outfit’s knack for pinging neon arrangements and sonic tricks around like so much fluorescent paint is a music nerd’s daydream too.
A keen ear will prick at tasteful nods to George Clinton, Steely Dan, and Prince; the preening flute-led gusto of ‘Moving Pictures’ in particular, has the distinctive show-stopping shade of the Purple One’s influence.
From the squelching keys and synth washes of ‘Desert In The Dark’ (plus its Super Mario Bros. breakdown), to the pared crooning vocals and baroque chords of ‘Insecure Troubadour’, there’s an inventive scale that each multidimensional track pockets.
But the vivid playfulness doesn’t hide the record’s occasional weak moments, like how ‘Bitter Bug’ swallows and chokes on a thesaurus (disconnectedly rhyming mission/fishing/politician).
When The Stepkids are on point however, which is often on Troubadour, they deliver character-drenched music that has commercial appeal without compromising their obvious artistry, experimentalism, and skill.
Few bands make music quite like The Stepkids, but Troubadour makes an entertaining, compelling argument that more bands should at least try to.
