The Stepkids are a three-piece with an impressive musical résumé-- their members have shared stages and performed in the touring bands of Lauryn Hill, Alicia Keys, and 50 Cent. With the release of their eponymous debut record on Stones Throw, they step into center stage, a place where the glare shines not only on their chops as musicians, but also on their personality as a band and their ability to carry off these impressively formed, iridescent soul songs.
There's no doubting the musicianship here-- they effortlessly drift from loving soul homages to delicately experimental psychedelic touches that recall the spaced-out synths of P-funk and, more recently, artists like Thundercat and Janelle Monáe. Boundary-pushing songs like "Brain Ninja" and "Suburban Dream" are draped in sparkling, trippy synthesizers and off-kilter vocals that eventually anchor themselves in the kind of gorgeous harmonies that are all over this record. Carrying an acid-fried tinge, those left-of-center moments are the strongest.
"Legend in My Own Mind", a song deeply rooted in 1960s pop, is played a little straighter-- the shimmering violins recall Van Morrison, while the panned left and right vocals would work on Rubber Soul. Those nods are played earnestly, but at the same time nothing feels forced or overly studious, just a little timeworn. On the less out-there moments like this it becomes difficult to sift through the dozens of influences and find something distinct-- for a group of guys used to playing other people's music, maybe this isn't such a surprise.
Really, there are no particularly bad moments here. What makes Stepkids feel slight isn't the musicianship or songwriting-- both of which shine-- but an absence of personality. By the band's own admission "any lyric, any melody, any idea could have been done by any of us," and it's this egalitarian approach that's also the project's biggest shortcoming. The result is something that sounds like three session players and lacks the presence of somebody to step up and take this beyond being merely a decent, functional collection of songs.
