Band Review: Stever

I sure did not enjoy listening to Stever, but she has her fans.

That last part may be more important than the first part, so I will treat it last.

I think the best way to describe the music is like the Trans-Siberian Orchestra version of The Nightmare Before Christmas, except that the macabre elements comes from mental illness instead of the supernatural. Given that, my not particularly caring for it sounds like the only possible result, but there were other issues.

Stever's most recent project, Idiot Savant (more on that title in a moment) was inspired by the way life kills the childlike joy and creativity of childhood, forcing people to subsist on the harmful and fake. She hopes that her music can jar people out of their complacency and reawaken their souls, and she didn't want it to be anything political. (That is paraphrasing, but not as much as you'd like.)

The way she talks reminds me of people who will always tell you what you are doing wrong (like dairy or wheat or not using essential oils). I think there has to be some superficiality to believe you know the answers for other people. While Stever is not necessarily quite in that category, I sense the same superficiality in thinking that ignoring external factors (like politics and government) that contribute to the problems will not stand in the way of a solution. In addition, while her music certainly can be jarring, that seem like the kind of thing that might prevent people from listen enough to come to an awakening, even if that were a good route to an awakening.

Beyond that, after reading some responses to The Shape of Water, her taking her inspiration from an autistic child while admitting that she doesn't know much about autism but feels a connection to it is really off-putting. Using real conditions that you don't understand as a metaphor for some other issue can be harmful, regardless of whether people respond to your metaphor the way you want.

Also, her music from before this project is kind of jarring too, so is she just using that as her awakening tool because it is the only tool she possesses?

That is a lot of negativity, but I also have to say this: there are a lot of positive comments on her videos, not only for the music for for her personal outreach to listeners. It seems that she has helped people, and that is worth a lot. She may simply not be for me.

I don't think that undoes anything I have said - especially on the metaphor issue - but if she has also been able to help people, I don't want to discount that.

http://www.karenstever.com/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjHeWYLEvEa5KYso60EOhhA

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/stever5

https://twitter.com/KARENSTEVER