Steve and the Sea - { Home } EP
Whenever I release music, I use it as an excuse to turn it into a major creative project beyond just the music. For my second EP, I produced an animated video, artwork for the EP and a single, and screen printed t-shirts.
My second EP, written and recorded 2019-2020, released 10th April 2020.
After a long break since my last music release, I ventured back in to recording and releasing a new EP. I took my time to create something that reflected what I was experiencing at the time; moving to a new place, separation and contemplation. I went through multiple iterations of how the EP would come together until eventually the songs started coming together, and the true identity of the EP came to light.
{ Home } – almost accidentally – became a collection of songs that reflected how I was feeling about being in a new place, far from friends, whilst also considering what being a “home” really is. It featured songs about experiences of being almost housebound with anxiety, about empathy for someone else’s home sickness, and about having to face a tough decision about where I would call “home”.
Initially, I’d intended on calling the EP “Field Notes”, and would create a collection of full songs and unfinished ideas that were created over a period of time. I took inspiration from old scientific illustrations and the shells I’d collected on Brighton beach. I had plans to create hand printed cases from blocks of wood I’d found (which I later realised had come from Brighton Palace Pier). However as { Home } came together (and as I realised how expensive physical copies would be), I found the artwork still reflected the idea; shells are often seen as the “homes” of the animals that inhabit them, living down by the sea.
As the songs came together, I started experimenting with ideas for a video for the lead single ‘Sleep Now’. Inspired by these experiments, the music conjured up images of more old illustrations and books, explorations of science lost to history, all in a dark and mysterious atmosphere.
The video was created entirely at home with little more than the camera on my phone and green-screen made from a blanket suspended from two microphone stands.
Here’s a full “making of” video describing the process of putting the video together.
As a follow up to the EP, I also released a limited run of t-shirts, featuring illustrations styled on the EP artwork.
