Steph Strings blends blues backbone with genre exploration across a debut that feels deeply personal and endlessly charming.
Discovering Ernest Hemingway, stomping clapalongs, “tram tracks and cobblestones”, befriending your “inner soul”, singing loud “to the birds in the treetops” – Feel Alive, the debut album by Steph Strings, bristles with salt-of-the-earth charm. “I know who I am, but I’ve still got more to say” – it’s a snapshot of where this extraordinary artist finds herself right now.
“The dust on my guitar flies away…” – lyrically, Steph illustrates the session that produced Gratefully (during which said flying dust particles made her sneeze). The raucous Devil Woman, which follows, paints a less wholesome picture: “We got that Mary Jane/ From Billy’s house/ We put it in your mumma’s handbag and zipped it up.” This song emerged from a family jam session at a party in Brunswick East, with Billy – her mum’s cousin – on harmonica.
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The main ukulele melody that uplifts Waterfall is from Steph’s very first viral Instagram video, posted back in 2020. This one reminds us to “make peace with the animal” within and tune into nature’s wordless wisdom.
Of Melbourne Blue, a power ballad played on grand piano, Steph has said: “If Missy Higgins and Julia Jacklin had a child, this song would be it.” Hope St. Radio’s margaritas, The London Tavern and the 109 tram down Whitehorse Road all score shoutouts here. Such enchanting, lilting piano melodies! Endless prettiness underscores uncertainty (“Don′t know where I’m supposed to go/ Find it hard to be alone…”).
Steph co-wrote Again, a song about longing for loved ones when you’re on the road, with her partner/road manager Laura Siebert in a Byron Bay Airbnb the night before 2025’s Byron Bay Blues & Roots Festival. Co-created with Alice Ivy, Three Wishes – with its joyous, skipping tempo – chooses forgiveness and mending friendships. Heaven was informed by ‘conversations’ Steph opened up with people in her life that have passed away.
Minus her beloved guitar, Steph performs the fully instrumental A Storm In April on grand piano, backed by her cellist friend Josh Luke Rea. The cascading melodies are impossibly beautiful. Almost a decade in the making, this standout moment on the record showcases Steph’s virtuosity.
“Cinnamon, ginger, honey and gold…” – Steph describes her favourite tea, Bengal Spice by Celestial Seasonings (*ad/sponsorship alert*), in the closing To Be Loved. “This is how it feels to be truly loved” – who doesn’t want that?
Steph’s comfortable baring her soul through music, which adds oceans of depth and makes listeners feel like they know her. Although she flirts with various genres throughout the album, her blues backbone holds firm but is never limiting.
“I hope I′ve done my mum and dad and sister proud,” she sings during Melbourne Blue. We’re pretty sure that’s a given.
LABEL: INDEPENDENT
