Steven Delopoulos, former frontman of the alternative Christian folk band
Burlap to Cashmere, first officially began his solo career in 2003, when he amazed listeners of all tastes and backgrounds with his debut album, "
Me Died Blue." Many people here are probably more familiar with Derek Webb (see his comment below), who is actually a good friend of Steve's, and went on-tour with him a couple years ago. Derek's wife, Sandra McCracken, also does background vocals on Steve's new album, a work of art and reflection that only continues to increase the amazement:
Now, for people of various musical tastes and genres who are just discovering Steve and his work, as well as all his die-hard fans who have been eagerly awaiting a sophomore studio release for four years, his brand-new album "Straightjacket" is now available as of this Thanksgiving Day, for just $10 exclusively through digital download at his site, StringsAndWood.com:
Quote:
Straightjacket came out of a mixture of fear and excitement. The brewing of lava from the island of Santorini. Deaths in the family, the changing of guards, a spider bite that caused a fever and sparked an awakening in me...all events that fueled this record.
With the help of the great Monroe Jones (Eb+Flo Records) who kindly let me in his back yard to document and produce this project with a budget of lint, Monroe gently sculpted and colored this project with great intuition and subtle magic that is easily overlooked.
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.
This is a very exciting time to be alive. A time to wake up and smell the flowers, a time to realize how much loving power we have on this earth. Death does not exist here. We have been authorized to move mountains and we are just scratching the surface of this potential...
I hope you enjoy this new record. It was fun and yet healing to make, and I look foward to meeting you all on the road...again 
Steve
TRACK LISTING
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
"Steven Delopoulos is a complete mystery to me. His music is full of a transcendent wonder and poetic grit that I don't hear coming from any other contemporary artists. Straightjacket is a strange journey of language and melody that I never seem to grow tired of revisiting...I'm still completely baffled as to how he does it." --Derek Webb, singer/songwriter
"From thoughtful spirituals and ballads to Steve Goodman-like bittersweetness, the songs are like three-minute novellas. And despite his background, [Straightjacket] cannot in anyway be considered a 'gospel' album-this is folk rock boys and girls." --Todd Smith, sharkbitten.com
"His songs express simple truths in refracted ways and complex truths are revealed as quandaries that change lives. Delopoulos' musical terrain is where the song becomes the story itself..." -Thom Jurek, allmusic.com
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Some excellent blog reviews of "Straightjacket" that Steve personally linked to are
here,
here and
here.
You can also listen to a few of Steve's songs from both "Me Died Blue" and "Straightjacket" at
his MySpace.
Here's the brief but poignent biography from his website that I linked to at the top of this post:
Quote:
Steven Delopoulos boasts a diverse range of musical influences including Harry Chapin, Abba, Andrew Lloyd Weber, and Greek folk music. If you can’t imagine how all these threads could create an artistically consistent whole, then you haven’t heard his latest record, Straightjacket.
Growing up in Monmouth County, NJ in a distinctively Greek family, Steven absorbed the cadence of the Greek language and the spirit of the culture that has infused his music with its ethnic/world vibe. He first came on the music scene in the late 1990’s as the lead singer for Burlap to Cashmere. The group’s unique sound, defined by Steven’s stunning vocals and acoustic genius, quickly caught the ear of fans and record company executives alike.
In 1998 Burlap signed with A&M Records and released their first full-length album, Anybody Out There? In 2003, Delopoulos, in collaboration with producer Monroe Jones of Eb+Flo records, released Me Died Blue, a poignant solo album that helped him transition from captivating frontman to singer/songwriter extraordinaire. Working with Jones a second time, Delopoulos created Straightjacket, an unpredictable synthesis of styles that takes the listener on a whirlwind journey.
From the holy dimness of Greek Orthodox liturgy, to the rich, ecstatic echoes of a gospel choir, Straightjacket showcases Delopoulos’ immaculate acoustic picking and his honest, almost stripped-naked vocals. Blending folk, pop, a little gospel, and orchestral elements, Straightjacket is a musical expression of the rare fusion that is Steven Delopoulos.
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CHECK IT OUT - YOU WON'T BE DISAPPOINTED!
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