“Steven is the sound of me holding a mirror up to and critically reflecting on who I am:the good, the bad, the ugly. It’s about trying to understand the multitudes within me.” -S. RaekwonSteven Raekwon Reynolds performs as S. Raekwon, but his second LP is simply calledSteven. Across ten tracks of furious and subtly strumming guitars, plodding bass riffs,and whispering revelations, S. Raekwon’s newest album strips back sonic and personallayers to present his most vulnerable, yet authentic self.Born in Buffalo and now based in the East Village of New York City, Steven wrote,produced, engineered, and mixed everything on the record, in addition to playing everyinstrument except the drums. He packed up a rental car with all his gear and returned tohis fiance’s parents’ home in Southern Illinois, where they rode out the pandemic andwhere he recorded half of Where I’m at Now. The house proved to be a nontraditionalrecording space, but one that provided plenty of physical space as well as spiritual roomfor experimentation.Steven and drummer Mario Malachi, longtime friends since their days at college inCleveland, Ohio, spent a week in July 2023 transforming the living room into amakeshift studio, rearranging furniture, sitting face-to-face in front of a mic, and tapingsongs in single takes. It was a new way of working together, with no demoing or pre-production; Mario hadn’t even heard the songs before getting there, which created a senseof spontaneity and improvisation.Where his debut explored his past – longing for a connection to his father and the Blackside of his family and wrestling with his identity while being raised in a household by asingle, white mother – Steven looks inward. Steven is loosely structured in three parts:Part 1 is fast and energetic, exploring the concepts of rage, anger, jealousy. Part 2 is slowand dynamic, with themes of ugliness, disappointment, embarrassment. Part 3 issomething gentler, a moment of contentment and clarity. Steven is a portrait ofstrengths and weaknesses, flaws and fulfillments.