Stevan

For Wollongong-based artist Stevan, the calamity of 2020 left him bursting with creative energy from a wave of new experiences. And when the dust settled, two mixtapes with distinctive energies emerged – his debut, “Just Kids”, and its successor, “Ontogeny”. “There was just so much inspiration in a year, so much happened. I had to say something,” says Stevan.

In the short months between the releases, Stevan’s growth as a musician and in life experience is clear. Even the mixtapes’ title, “Ontogeny”, is defined as the growth of an organism from early life to maturity. “I guess the whole project really is talking about me overcoming juvenile emotional behaviours and mindsets, things that kids think about,” he says.

During a summer-time thunderstorm, Stevan performs his latest single, “More Than Them”, live on Mood on the Roof.

Like many Australian artists, Stevan’s been holding tight through live music restrictions for the chance to perform his work live. That moment came in late November, to a sold-out Mary’s Underground. Surprisingly, he tells us he often struggles with performance anxiety, but with the crowd’s energy on his side, it all but vanished. “The energy at the shows, it was crazy. It was ecstatic. It was like the first time that I’ve been on stage and I haven’t freaked out at all.”

“Just Kids” and “Ontogeny” walk two very different sonic landscapes. “Just Kids” is sunny and bright, teetering between surf rock and R’n’B. Compared with Ontogeny, dark and R’n’B focused, Stevan has set an expectation that his project will continue to grow and change. “I like to give people little parts of who I am and what I am at any stage and then continue to grow so that it’s unpredictable. And then it’s really like, “Oh, what will they do next?” That’s what I love,” he says.

Music was previously a solo endeavour for the vocalist, producer, and instrumentalist, who created Just Kids entirely himself. But in 2020, Stevan says he opened up to collaboration on “Ontogeny” with LUCIANBLOMKAMP, a Melbourne producer with credits for 6lack, Khalid, and BANKS.

“I feel like as of late, I’ve just been open to working with people, which is not something that I had been before because I just felt like music was such a close thing to me. But especially on this new project, we sat down and we just formed these ideas, and it was so nice for a change to have someone to reign in some of my craziness,” he says.