stephaniesid

"...each song takes on its own personality with distinctive lyrics and varied instrumentation." - Kat Coffin

(World Cafe NEXT Artist the week of June 1, 2009) "Sharp writing." --David Dye

"A very mesmerizing mix of songs that can be hushed and calm one moment, and then suddenly dark and explosive the next." --Robin Hilton, All Songs Considered

- Robin Hilton / David Dye

Early in the game, the book on the Asheville, NC band stephaniesid--based around the nucleus of frontwoman Stephanie Morgan and keyboardist Chuck Lichtenberger--went along the lines of electro-flavored indie pop with a quirkysexycool edge. The group's evolution, though, has been remarkable. Warm People, the followup to 2007's well-received Grus Americanus, is steeped in swirly-but-edgy arrangements, with elements of noirish jazz, dancey '80's rock and throbbing psychedelia all bubbling under. Morgan's coquettish vocals, simultaneously innocent and worldly in a kind of Bjork-meets-Feist sense, are often the focus -- in the insistent, Arcade Fire-like "The Weakling", you can practically hear her strutting -- but the songs are at turns hypnotic, anthemic and contemplative in their own right. "Drinking at a Party," bolstered by vibes, horns and gospel-like backing vocals, just might be one of the year's most cinematic tunes, and the spooky instrumental "Sashimi" that closes the album leaves the listener basking in a profound afterglow. This is world-class music, period. No labels necessary. - Fred Mills

Warm People, 2009 Review

This looks happy, but the music hits much deeper. It's a slow and enchanting buildup of vocal and melody into a space-rocked drone that fills your mind with light and sound. Then we drift into a slower spin, with Stephanie Morgan's vocals moving delicately between The Sugarcubes and The Sundays, but always with a childlike wink and skip in every verse. Sometimes the band evinces a sadness that lives in the world, but there is always an answer of music and joy to bring light out of every possible shadow. Sometimes a passage of otherworldliness reminds of bands such as Halou or Massive Attack, but with more of an indie-pop happy go-go dance going on. Good.


Grus americanus, 2007 Review

Moody mellow rock opera movements that flow like deep water into sound
& vision. Stephanie Morgan sings against keys, Rhodes and wurlitzers,
drums, guitars and bass, violins and vibraphones. Sometimes moving
like a gothic Rainer Maria, sometimes dancing like an upbeat and more
modern Rasputina. Childlike and grown-up sounds mixing with poetry and pop. Angst and sorrow swirling around with dramatic hop and
joyfulness. Intensity hits like the ocean, pulling you into melodic
undertow. Songs of family, love, water, and self. Sometimes a groove
hits, like a dancefloor Cat Power, but with more of a blues soul voice
creeping towards your heartbeat. It makes you smile, sway, and think
about the future, dance with memories, dream of right now. - Marcel Feldmar

Stephanie's Id
Grus Americanus
Asheville-based electro/indie rockers Stephanie's Id are a good
indication that the mountains of Western North Carolina aren't just
for bluegrass and folk anymore. On the band's third release, vocalist
Stephanie Morgan's fierce, siren-like vocals are set against dramatic,
stripped-down piano and a pulsing vibraphone. The result falls
somewhere between Aretha Franklin soul and Bjork's hypnotic
electro-pop, with a distinctively dark, lean edge. Where the band's
name is an allusion to the subconscious - the source of instinct and
impulses - their music follows siut: Grus is a collection of raw,
emotive tracks, ranging in style from sweet soul-jazz to the creepy
drone of bands like goth-rockers Garbage. Yet, somehow, amid the
twists and turns, from dark to light, rebellious to sweet, Grus takes
all of the distinctive personality swings, and never missteps in
identity. - Allie Goolrick - HARP Magazine

"There’s a real joyful belief here that is irresistibly infectious..... I hope the next time I trip across Stephaniesid it is to report that this [Warm People] was what many expect it to be - the proverbial breakthrough album." - Jeff Perkins

Musical touchstones include Rilo Kiley, Bjork, Cocteau Twins, Radiohead, sharing with these bands the ability to create gorgeous melodies over deceptively smart and deep musical ideas.... [stephaniesid] has gone from local favorites to regional stars. Their steady string of recordings and constant touring has earned the band a good measure of national attention as well.... it's rock without the guitar solos, with attention focused on the melodies, the hooks, and the gratifying payoff of the cascading chorus. - WGSM - SAM FM 107.1

"The second artist to quote Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" couldn't have been any different than Faulkner's solo escapades, and the brief tease of that 30-year-old classic came by way of a rather transcendent set by indie pop maven act, stephaniesid. The band was different, melodic, quirky, and just plain good when one thinks of how many bands were trashing guitars throughout the tents at this point of the evening. A sleeper act which hit the mark with an almost Bjork-like panache. Ahh.... Iceland, again." - The Bonnaroo Beacon

I suppose to some it’s a great revelation to some that Stephaniesid hails from Asheville North Carolina, as if music – like fifty years ago – was a strictly regional thing with an artist’s sound based strongly on their geographical circumstance. If you’re expecting banjos and fiddles and a country-fried sensibility you’re in for a big surprise (or a disappointment) here.

Stephaniesid is about as far away from that tired stereotype as one can be. If you were to pick them a hometown based solely on their sound you could easily say Oslo or New York City or Montreal. They eschew acoustic, opting instead for a collection of keyboards, bass rhythms and monochromatic drums. It’s not techno. It’s not rock. Call it pensive pop or brooding electro folk and, while it’s not entirely original, it’s not all too boringly familiar either.

They seem to have a thing for those instruments not easily associated with the musical zeitgeist (band member Krum plays the sleigh bells in case you were overly curious) and what makes this album so listenable is the mere fact that no two tracks seem to sound that similar. The mystery in determining Stephaniesid distinctive sound grows deeper and more inconclusive as you progress through the album.

The one constant would have to be lead singer Stephanie Morgan’s breathy, at times aching voice. She mutates from a quiet and breathy Kate Nash (minus the thick Brit accent) to a polite and audibly-discernible Bjork (minus the spontaneous impious shrieks). Ms. Morgan seems willingly buried within the songs, as if each is a specific tale and, in each, she takes on a specific, slightly-different role. You’re left with the overwhelming feeling she’s telling you stories as much as she’s singing you songs.

Any one of the first seven tracks from Warm People (their third full length album) could be considered exemplary of how good this band actually is although Mission from God, Hello From The South and The Weakling would be on the podium if I this were my Olympics and I was holding a collection of medals.

Sadly the CD drops off precipitously with the final three tracks on the album. You get the feeling they had rhythms and melodies they couldn’t fully cultivate before the CD was pressed. While it’s not nearly enough to wipe off that musical smile created with the first seven, you wonder if maybe this deserved to be shorter and, in turn, sonically sweeter.

Still, after all is sung and done, this is a very good record. It deserves to be heard by more people than are actually likely to hear it. How far they will go seems solely dependent on how much people are willing to expand their own musical geography and aural horizons. - au.ca

Stephanie Morgan is the founder of the annual POPAsheville festival, which celebrates Western North Carolina's emergence as an alt-rock haven, and her band (pronounced "Stephanie's Id," as in ego and superego) is the ballast of that community. The group's second album shows why stephaniesid is ready to go national, or even international. The sound is anchored by the synths and keyboards of Morgan and her husband, co-songwriter Chuck Lichtenberger, and driven by Morgan's one-of-a-kind voice. The band's best songs, such as "Hello From the South," "Drinking at a Party," "Bullet Train" and "Mission From God," sound like effortlessly poetic letters from an alert, compassionate friend. Morgan has access to deep feelings and possesses the gift of being able to express them with mood-appropriate music. Her voice changes with the mood: from girlish to womanly, delicate to bold, as the songs move from intimate to anthemic. With acute insights, shimmering synth hooks and smoothly shifting melodic textures, "Warm People" is difficult to classify but easy to love. —Wayne Robins - Billboard Magazine, Wayne Robins (author)