This album can claim to be released at exactly the right time. As a truly heart-warming message in our Corona times, the songs on A Very Thin Wire caress the soul with their musically largely light, relaxed style. To make sure that the songs don't get lost in too much well-being, they are based on no-nonsense lyrics, which in their mostly thoughtful way are worth listening to with undivided attention. Steve Strauss' new album, released 22 years after his debut album, again on Stockfisch, is just his fourth, which means that the now 55-year-old singer/songwriter is still being treated as an insider tip after all these years. As far as it should be permissible to infer a modest character from Steve Strauss' s vocally and visually extremely likeable appearance, it could well be that he does not mind being treated as an insider tip. After all, this status has the advantage of not being used up in the country scene.
On A Very Thin Wire there are no less than thirteen songs, the majority of which can be traced back to Steve Straus. One exception is Ton Wait's "The Heart of Saturday Night", a song that proves to be a fully valid alternative to the original in the cover version presented on this album. Not to be underestimated in this context, but also for the extremely successful, individually coordinated background in the remaining songs, is the contribution of the highly professional instrumentalists on this album, especially Ian Melrose, who helps to shape the mood of the songs with guitars that perfectly match the sound - different acoustic guitars, a lapsteel guitar, a dobro and a Weissenborn guitar.
Don't let yourself be fooled: The musically light and relaxed style of this album has nothing to do with superficiality, especially not with the execution of the songs by the musicians involved. Rather, it is a high art to create "lightness" in such a way that it comes across as completely natural. And this is exactly what happens with every song on A Very Thin Wire.
Not to be overestimated is the recording contribution of the Stockfisch label to the album A Very Thin Wire, which is lovingly tuned to the sonorous voice of Steve Strauss and his fellow musicians. The success of the label, which has also digitally produced the previous albums on the same label in the highest audiophile quality, can be assured.
Steve Strauss, guitar, vocals