For this fifth – and final of the year – EP, Tip Stevens writes the continuation of his beginnings with Condor (Chapter 2: Spirit). Review.
CONDOR (CHAPTER 2: SPIRIT) – TIP STEVENS
In terms of style, Condor (Chapter 2: Spirit) is the logical continuation, nourished and grown through many years of work, of Tip Stevens’ first EP, Condor (Chapter 1: Body). Red has become blue. The sound still carries just as much emotion and 8-bit sparkle. But the path travelled can be felt in every line. To close the year, the direction is electro-pop. A blend of genres that works wonderfully within the artist’s style, who continues to impress us with his artistic versatility.
Spitfire is a banger intro that sounds like a credit sequence. For an opening or an ending, that’s up to you! Its video is summing up his Road to Olympia nicely, as it’s been built along each step. Quiet! is luminous, marked by more intense moments, sometimes more rock-oriented too, with an impeccable flow, like a deep and vibrant electro track. Slow Steps ventures into an atmosphere somewhere between city pop and film noir. Mysterious and sensual, it is unsettling and addictive. The track flows naturally into The Walls (Interlude) and confirms the mystical, spatial, modern and otherworldly atmosphere of this EP.
If the first chapter ended with a heart-rending call, an emotional cry from the heart, called Home, this second chapter’s ending is radiant, festive, optimistic. A New Home has a particular flavour, somewhere between nostalgia, intimate emotion, a reminder of that iconic track from Condor 1, and a pure moment of freedom. The chorus is a vivid explosion of all of this. In its loops, in its emotion, Tip Stevens marks the end of this project. A temporary end, but an end for now. This chapter closes so that another may open later. A very fine way to close the year.
