Steve Lacy's Demo


Steve Lacy's Demo is a commercial release by American musician Steve Lacy. It was released on February 24, 2017, by Three Quarter and AWAL. The project has been described by Lacy as a song series.

Background

Lacy created most of the song-series on his iPhone, producing the guitar and bass arrangements and singing his vocals right into its built-in microphone. He also programmed the drum patterns in Ableton.

In popular culture

In August 2021, the song, "Dark Red", went viral on TikTok, with videos featuring the song reaching over 110K views as of February 2022.

Critical reception

Steve Lacy's Demo received positive reviews from music critics. Jonah Bromwich of Pitchfork said, " sparkles with classic Southern California funk and soul... the music here is startlingly mature, full of dimension and depth, as if Lacy were accompanied by a full band rather than doing everything, right down to the mixing, by his lonesome." Kareem Sheikh of DJ Booth said, "Demo's six tracks are cohesive in both their smooth, sultry sound and their theme of young love... is fun, youthful and intimate, and is sure to convert any Internet lover into a budding Steve Lacy fanboy." Makeda Sandford of Saint Heron stated that, " is an electrifying yet smooth thirteen minutes – a playful depiction of beachy funk, rock 'n roll-sprinkled soul."

Track listing

All songs written and produced by Lacy.
Note