Steve Lacy: The Lo-Fis [First Impressions]

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December 2020 means one thing – looking at our Spotify Wrapped and our top songs. I decided to list some of my favourite concerts from artists in my Top 100 Songs upon realising that Steve Lacy has dropped a new album TODAY known as The Lo-Fis. I am so blessed. Steve Lacy was also in my Top 5 of most listened artists in 2020 as well.

Who knew that this little demo would be a masterpiece. Steve Lacy is on a whole new planet when it comes to fine. Some of his earlier songs are modern classics. You can listen to this TED talk where he explains how he produced his earlier songs entirely on his phone using Garageband. It shows that talent is not based on the amount of resources and wealth you have. He is such a genuine person and I’m so excited for the future of music. C U Girl and Dark Red are still on repeat to this day.

Ego Death is a Grammy-nominated phenomenal album released by The Internet. It is one of my favourites and Steve Lacy was in production, bass, guitar and artist and he was SIXTEEN. What did I accomplish by the time I was sixteen? Nothing.

All of the songs in The Lo-Fis were produced in HIGH SCHOOL. These are just sheer excellence and are so mature and refined. This man was ahead of his time. It’s really magical to see something like this. I guess these were the song that weren’t good to go on the album as they were deemed too short by conventional music standards or a bit immature but I reckon Steve Lacy was just sleeping on himself.

If you have heard of him but haven’t listened to his music, you are sleeping on him so hard.

At only 1:06 in length, The Song is the final song on the album and is one of my favourites. There is a really unique reverb at the beginning which I associate distinctly with Steve Lacy. It appears in other songs such as C U Girl. There is also a common theme in his songs where the song is paused and broken up in distinct sections. Like Me is a really good example of this and the changes in the song are so exquisite. This technique is really unique and I don’t see it a lot in music. It’s hard to explain but listen at 0:33 and notice the change in the song.

Infrunami is so angelic and is also one of my favourites of the album. At 2:58, it is actually the longest song on the album. It makes me want to lay on my bed and look up at the ceiling whilst feeling lost yet open to love at the same time vibes.

I’ve been fortunate to see Steve Lacy live and it was my most recent gig before covid hit. It was played at The Metro Theatre in Sydney which was the upgraded venue. It should have been played there in the first place. He sold out so quick. I really enjoyed it and he put an amazing show!

I would love to know what you thought of the album. Let me know below.