SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: STEPHEN STEINBRINK – DISAPPEARING COIN

Stephen Steinbrink
Disappearing Coin
Western Vinyl

Sure, it has been tried before. That is, combining Brian Wilson-like harmonies with meandering and subtly complex San Francisco psych vibes.

Yet integrating the two into an artful combination that keeps you both attentive and relaxed at the same time needs some excellent ability and inventiveness on the part of the artist or a band, the former being even harder to do. Still, that is what Bay Area singer songwriter Stephen Steinbrink is able to do on his latest album Disappearing Coin.

It might have something to do with his previous efforts, like Utopia Teased from 2018, or his decision to step away from music for a while and pick up an apprenticeship in the nearly-lost art of stained glass, becoming a glazier at a studio that over the course of three years, fully restored the enormous 90-year-old windows in San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral.

And it is exactly like any beautifully done stained glass window that Steinbrink’s music evolves here with his excellent combination of vocals, and tasteful and subdued arrangements that make this album so enticing.

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