Three years ago, The Steph Lippert Project released “Which Witch.” The time lapse since that languid tune, a slice of neo-soul suggesting self-empowerment, and The SLP’s new release “Here Again”, might have had listeners thinking Lippert went underground.
To hear Lippert tell it, she’s more focused on getting things right that chiming in on social media about what she’s going to do. “I want to stay grounded and not get too excited. Because I have work to do, I’m trying to stay consistent with that,” she says.
“Here Again” is built around Lippert’s familiar electric piano. Recorded and mixed with Vincent Kircher, lyrically the song refers to a déjà vu of frustration—sort of a Groundhog’s Day of personal reckoning. Lippert took subject matter that most folks can relate to and channeled it as musical therapy. Musically, it’s easy to refer to early Todd Rundgren, Karla Bonoff or even Laura Nyro—the subtle sophistication hints at Lippert’s classical training, never losing touch with pop music hooks.
Chops and Gigs
That training has paid off in terms of chops and getting gigs. Over the summer Lippert and soprano Julianne Perkins took opera to the people, playing an informal night of tunes to patrons at Nessun Dorma.
Lippert views writing songs as an ongoing challenge. “A lot of musicians are good at generating ideas because we are always singing, always playing—but the follow-through is something I’m not used to.” That challenge, the follow-though, is something she works on. “Not waiting to get lucky on an idea … getting into the practice of recording and generating ideas” has become a conscious focus.
She cites Kircher’s influence, especially the idea of writing a lot, knowing that there will be plenty of chaff tossed away among the wheat that is kept. “I should be writing more,” she says with a self-critical perspective, “I need to retrain my brain to think about recording in the [same] way I would be if I were getting ready for a performance.”
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“Here Again” and a preview listen to the upcoming “Somebody Else”—another slice of relaxed pop, juxtaposing upbeat music with matter-of-fact lyrics; Lippert aims for a mid-January release and looks ahead to when she can focus time and energy to get a live band happening.
She talks about how rare it is to assemble the right players. “In the years that I have been playing out with this project there has been a lot of changes. This ‘sabbatical’ is allowing me to get closer to what I feel like will be the live thing.” Getting the recordings out there will offer a chance to give people an idea of what her vision is all about. “I want to get the point where an active band is creating together. That’s the goal.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source shepherdexpress.com ’
