Photo Credit: Nika Aila States
red steppes‘ “Leonine” starts out under the indie math-rock banner, but it soon reveals its true colors.
Nika Aila States, using the stage name red steppes, triple-distills some awesome construction as well as execution, and conjures a quick storm in 3 minutes. The structure is still very classic, with chorus, refrains separating stanzas and even a bridge. All of these components, however, are incredibly wondrous and light.
That it’s something one would not find out of place if it floated from an open window as one strolled down Signal Hill in San Francisco with flowers and bees in one’s hair (because god-forbid if you walk uphill you would suffer death by perspiration) is perhaps not surprising, as it really WAS mixed and taped in North Cal. States shows nary a hesitation in flowing across the scales, jumping freely to-and-fro with the melody.