Stefan Sands, Cape Town-based singer/songwriter, guitarist and producer exudes strong roots in blues and funk and his sounds rest upon elements of these with a strong focus on the groove.
Using a blend of traditional and more modern instruments and sounds, his focus is to phrase his influences of older, more traditional funk, blues and soul music into a contemporary, individual sound that showcases these elements in a way that is different but retains its simple instrumental nature and places musicality at the forefront.
Stefan’s latest EP, Catalyst, combines elements of Pop, Blues, Funk and Soul to create a balanced sonic palette representative of the artist’s influences. The EP is structured predominantly as a pop record, rich with melodies and hooks to keep the listener engaged in the groove. The EP is instrumentally rich and makes a point of using this to maintain the groove and showcase the ideas of the artist, which creates the right space in the mix to enhance the vocal performance. Catalyst is a groovy, funky, easy listening record that introduces Stefan and his ideas as well as hints at what is to come in the near future.
This project was self-produced by Stefan along with a friend, Richard Baker. Notable contributors on the EP include Hiram Koopman on sax, Nic Williams on keys and bass, Eldon Quirk at Verse Sound for mixing and Randy Merrill at Sterling Sound for the mastering of the project in its entirety.
Stefan on “Beautiful Day” (listen and watch here)
“I was sitting on the porch of an Airbnb in Austin, Texas with this crappy little travel guitar I had with me that holiday and started playing some chords with a peculiar jazz’ish voicing that just sounded right in the moment. Lyrically, I usually only write when something is bothering me or I have a story to tell, and truthfully that day everything was fine, and all I was thinking in the moment was “woah, it’s such a beautiful day” – so that’s what I sang. I never really intended it to be a song I released but it became a reminder to me later on that not every moment is going to be profound and deep, and sometimes one needs be contempt with the fact that what’s going on in the current moment is enough because it’s honest. I liked the chord structure and the groove so I produced it out and it found its place in the EP”.
Streaming links below for some ultra-tasty groove, funk and blues.
