Karl Steven Shares Debut Solo Album 'All of Human Emotion on Microfiche'

Today's a magical day in Aotearoa music, as electronic producer and award winning film soundtrack composer Karl Steven (Queen Neptune, The Drab Doo-Riffs, Heart Attack Alley, Supergroove) unveils his official debut solo album All of Human Emotion on Microfiche. Gathering together previously released studio radio faves 'Freedom Bells', 'Tāmaki 500', 'Utterance and Inscription', and 'Acoma (Phase I)', Steven's inventively retro-futuristic record also contains never before heard new tunes 'The Message' (no relation to Grandmaster Flash's classic), 'Cold Day Light' and 'Acoma (Phase II)'.

Never less than compelling throughout its seven pulsing, poetic and often contemplative tracks, All of Human Emotion on Microfiche harnesses the power of an enviable variety of vintage electronic gear, and features a contribution from fellow Supergroove member Ché Fu (on turntables) — with Mindfulness For Machines (Marcel Bellvé of Crap Date and Lipsink) providing mind-melting cybernetic visuals for the lead singles. Here's what the Pārāwai (Thames) based artist has to say about his long-awaited solo outing...

"I'm glad to set these pieces free into the community of music listeners to run wild amongst other musics. While not without humour, these are quite introspective and some would say experimental constructions, so it's been a very nice surprise how welcoming people have been towards them so far.

This is my first non-commissioned release under my own name, which is itself an adventure... To be honest that's mainly just a matter of me coming to terms with that this is indeed my name and looks set to remain so for the rest of my life, so why not hang my music upon that rack rather than try to outrun my own reflection? (It's "Karl Steven for life" as I sometimes remind myself.)

Aside from that I'm just very grateful to Sunreturn for the encouragement and support in turning what is, in some respects, the sound of my mind occasionally boiling over - or else drying out and crumbling - into hard drives on my days off work. Here's hoping we can send them out into the world with love."

'All of Human Emotion on Microfiche' is out now on major streaming services via Sunreturn.