RELEASE SPOTLIGHT
UNCLE STEVEN
RAGGED TUNES FOR A LAZY AFTERNOON
There is something nice about a songwriter who doesn't seem particularly interested in rushing the songs anywhere.
Ragged Tunes For A Lazy Afternoon brings together ten songs Stefan Olovsson has written over roughly ten years. Some have been waiting around for a while. Others found their way into the world more recently.
You can hear that history in the record.
Folk, country and old skool songwriting sit at the centre, but the album never feels like an exercise in sounding vintage. These are songs written by someone who grew up with his father's old records, then spent years figuring out what to do with that influence himself.
And then he made an interesting decision.
Record it simply.
Guitar. Voice. Live takes. No click track. No headphones. No attempt to iron every little imperfection out of the performance.
That matters.
Because the songs began that way too, Stefan sitting with a guitar, writing largely for himself. On this album, that private feeling remains audible even after other musicians enter the room.
There is melancholy here.
There is humour.
There is a little wear around the edges.
And thankfully, no rush to make any of it look perfect.
Ragged Tunes For A Lazy Afternoon feels like an album that knows exactly what it wants to be.
Something you put on when the afternoon is yours.
And for once, nobody is asking you to hurry