Big things are in the works for Birmingham, England-based DJ/producer/remixer Steve Alcock (a.k.a. Rocky Steps). Known for his musical partnership with Andy Porteous in Free School, this summer he’s set to present his debut solo album, End Zone, under his aforementioned alias.
Ahead of End Zone‘s release, we’re thrilled to debut “Delay of Game” featuring Lucy Graham, which serves as the upcoming LP’s opening track.
Get an exclusive first listen below. Read on to find out the back story behind the melodic, somewhat somber electronica cut.
“I chose ‘Delay of Game’ to open up my new album as it represents me saying farewell to the Free School sound and starting anew. It retains the playfulness of Free School’s latter work and nods to the doom and gloom of Rocky Steps in the funereal piano chords at the end. There’s a nod to John Maus and Lindstrøm in the production and LCD Soundsystem in the construction of the track which sees the debut of vocalist Lucy Graham. The track draws lyrically from Benjamin Franklin’s 13 Virtues, which he saw as the path to developing the ideal benchmark for humans to live by.
“At the time I started the sessions for this album I was listening to a lot of piano music (Moonface, Ben Lukas Boysen, Ryuichi Sakamoto) so I really wanted the piano to be at the forefront of the album. My favourite Lambchop album (and one of my faves of all time) is Is A Woman. I’ve always loved Kurt Wagner’s description of the production sounding like one huge piano. This was going to be my Nils Frahm/Keith Jarrett album but fortunately my rudimentary piano technique meant that I fell well short of those heights. I was also listening to a lot of modern New Age music (CFCF, I Am The Center, Transcendence Orchestra, Masayoshi Fujita, Jan Jelinek), and that allowed me to go in a different direction and aim for a warm, comforting sound, with tension and resolution, melodies and space to lose yourself in.”