Instrumental music isn’t a genre a lot of people seek out. Bands like CHON have taken their punk-fused instrumental rock and brought it to a wide variety of fans. However, Delicate Steve is taking his instrumental rock to a new place in the video for “Tattered.”
Delicate Steve is Taking Instrumental Storytelling to a Whole New Level
It’s easy to take an instrumental track and put any storyline or a series of fun shots over it. But Steve is taking his track “Tattered,” placing a video that mimics the storyline and bringing it to life.
The video shows Steve getting ready for a date, from the texts setting up a time to the shower before getting dressed. Ultimately while standing in her doorway in a floral print suit, he’s turned down.
Directed by Manu Barenboim, Steve set out to address being an instrumental artist. While the song is up for interpretation since there are no lyrics, the love story seems to fit over the melody flawlessly.
The entire way through the video, Steve is miming the melody played on guitar just as singers would sing their lyrics. Though comical, it adds to the true nature of being an instrumental artist.
“Many people over the years have said my guitar playing is like a vocal, or that I play guitar like a singer sings,” said Steve. “So for this music video, we set out to tell a story as though I was singing the lead guitar melody of the song.”
“Tattered” comes off Steve’s recent digital EP Cowboy Stories. It took four years for Steve to release Cowbow Stories and is his first as part of the ANTI- imprint. Producing and playing all the instruments on the record, Steve lets his music speak for itself without a single word.
Follow Delicate Steve on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
