loving the little stevies.

I don’t pretend to be an expert on many topics… I have no degree or higher education that I’ve completed and I haven’t mastered any great talent to speak of. So while I can’t discuss music from a technical or particularly knowledgeable standpoint, I know what makes my ears and heart happy and no band has had as good an effect on me in recent times as The Little Stevies have.

I used to work fulltime in retail and that was when I first heard them, after a co-worker would play their CD throughout the store every day on repeat. We then went together to see them play in Brisbane and ever since I have been loving The Little Stevies.

Without really knowing enough to put them in a particular genre myself, the Internet tells me their style is along the lines of folk-pop or indie music. There are three band members, including Robin Geradts-Gill and Sibylla and Bethany, the Stephens sisters… hence being ‘The Little Stevies’. They released an EP in 2006 titled Grow Up and their debut full length album Love Your Band in 2009. Then they released Attention Shoppers in 2011. Each of their songs tell a story. Some of the stories are about music, love and family, some are light-hearted and some are heart-breaking but I never come away from listening to it without feeling really good about life and about being young and silly.

When I decided to move interstate earlier this year, I would listen excitedly to The Two Loves of His Life that spoke of Melbourne’s trams or “big green beauties travelling up and down the middle of the street”. When I listen to their songs Sister, Grandma and Making My Sweetheart Smile I become aware of the great friendships and loves that exist within the stories told by my own family. Some of my favourite lyrics put so beautifully and succinctly in to words the way I’ve felt in my most vulnerable and confused moments.

Every time that you cry my world explodes,
Shattering all my dreams and all the hopes I held so close.

&

I’m not strong enough to carry what you hold effortlessly,
I’m not old enough to take on this responsibility.

But then by the next song, I am reminded that these moments are all a part of growing up and learning what kind of woman I want to be.

Technically, I might not be able to assert that their harmonies are flawless, melodies unique and their instruments an extension of their limbs (even though I’d put money on this being the case). However, I guess I’m also not really interested in providing a review as such. I just wanted to share The Little Stevies with you in case, like me, you use music in your life to make sense of things… or even for if you’re just searching for the perfect road trip album. I know I don’t have to be an expert to confidently say that if they sound like they might be for you, then they probably are.

 

sisters.

They say behind every good man is a good woman, but I think the truth of the matter is that behind every good woman is a strong sisterhood.  Literature had the Bronte sisters, the Knowles, Simpsons and the Minogues made their mark in music and the Arquettes, Olsens and Fannings are all A-list actresses. The strongest female role models in my life, including my mother, extended family members and some of my closest friends are part of a group of female siblings and I believe those relationships shaped them into the confident, compassionate and truly remarkable people they are today.