Stutter Steps keep positive vibes going on new EP ‘Floored’
When he stepped out in the fall of 2015 with the debut album from Stutter Steps, frontman Ben Harrison suggested that it might be a one-off project.
And then positive reviews began to roll in, including Pop Matters placing it at No. 7 on a year-endlist of the Best Indie-Pop of 2015.
That’s not bad for what the singer-songwriter, who is also the music curator for the Andy Warhol Museum, considered to be a hobby.
“The good vibes were so encouraging,” he says, “I thought, let’s keep this going.”
So while the first batch of songs was written and nurtured over a 10-year period, he went back to work with more urgency on six songs that make up a new Stutter Steps EP “Floored.”
Although the recording process was quite different, the results don’t vary greatly. Once again, Stutter Steps has created moody and melodic, guitar-driven indie rock in the vein of the Velvet Underground and disciple bands such as Galaxie 500/Luna and the Feelies.
The first album was made over a weekend at a wooded cabin in the Laurel Highlands with Ladybug Transistor founder Gary Olson producing. This time, they recorded at Pittsburgh’s Wild Kindness and Yellow Couch studios, along with Mr. Harrison doing a session with San Francisco-based co-singer Cindy Yogmas at Palmetto Studio in LA with Papercuts frontman Jason Quever, who mixed the EP.
“I got to know Jason through Dean & Britta [of Luna], and through working on our commissioned project, ‘Exposed: Songs for Unseen Warhol Films in 2014.’ We asked Jason to join the band on guitar on Dean [Wareham] and Eleanor Friedberger's songs. He opened his recording studio in downtown LA a couple years ago and Dean/Luna had done some recording there and recommended it. I've been a fan of Papercuts for quite a while and really appreciate his sensibility.”
Among his touches, he says, was a “particular big reverb approach to vocals,” which hover sweetly over the band. With guitarist Jeff Baron, who played on the first album, having moved to Vermont, Mr. Harrison is joined by Ms. Yogma, guitarist Phil Jacoby (of Sleep Experiments), bassist David Horn and drummer Sean Finn.
The release finds Stutter Steps in elite company on Cleveland’s Blue Arrow label, home to indie icons Jonathan Richman and Jon Langford (with his project Bad Luck Jonathan).
He first learned of the owners Debbie and Pete Gulyas, who also have a popular Cleveland music store, through Dean & Britta and then met them in person when Mr. Richmanplayed the Warhol in fall 2015.
“It feels rather surreal,” he says, considering his label mates. “[Debbie and Pete] have been amazing to work with and incredibly supportive. All good vibes and I'm really appreciative.”