Album Review: Stevan - Just Kids

Wollongong pop prodigy Stevan has charmed listeners with successive singles since his official premiere, Timee, in April 2019. Now, with his full-length debut, Just Kids, he's paying homage to highly conceptual mixtapes such as Frank Ocean's nostalgia,ULTRA. Still, Just Kids feels like an album. It's breezy, carefree and spirited.

An assured singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, Stevan has developed an inventive aesthetic – absorbing R&B, soul, hip hop, ska, reggae and indie. He sublimates the influence of Ocean and Tyler, The Creator, while echoing '80s New Wavers like Haircut One Hundred and Fun Boy Three, plus The Drums. Stevan favours harmonised vocals, lowkey raps, jangly guitar, dense drums and woozy beats – as epitomised here by the dreamy, ambient and cinematic opener Damn. He's a gifted melodist.

Lyrically, Stevan is concerned with selfhood, young love and the parameters of relationships. Yet he also discerns emotional nuances in transitory moments, memory and nostalgia. 'Vibes' are transformed into sonic spaces. Just Kids is the sound of summer, lost and found.

Just Kids gathers Stevan's key bops so far, including the retro-nuevo surf-pop LNT. The recent single On My Mind – the teen's most electronic production – slips somewhere between Daft Punk and Khalid.

There are previously unheard stand-outs. Rock N Roll is shoegaze, Stevan experimenting with resonant vocal effects. Take It Slow is a jazzy shuffle, its romantic theme tinged with caution and worry. Tripping is beachy psych-rock.

Significantly, Just Kids doesn't have any 'features'. Stevan is a one-artist playlist.