Wollongong-based artist Stevan has been impressing us for a while now, with bright guitars and understated vocals reminiscent of acts like Steve Lacy or an indie-pop Frank Ocean. After releasing a string of nourishing singles over the last year, Stevan drops his debut mixtape Just Kids today. The lead single ‘Tripping’ shows a new side to the young artists’ already well-rounded sound. Chatting to Stevan about the new track, he told us; “Tripping is the turning point for me on the project. It’s a switch in tone and I’m moving in a different direction so I had to illustrate that visually, as well. I spoke to Ollie [director] and showed him the new vibe. People are gonna be surprised by what’s in store for the future.”

The accompanying music video for ‘Tripping’ is directed by Ollie Birt, who spoke on the process of creating the video during a pandemic: “The video for Tripping needed to be different. The past two videos were for songs Stevan wrote when he was 16, so the visuals were made to feel nostalgic and pop. But as Stevan gets older and his music style shifts and matures, we want the visuals to evolve. Tripping is our signing off of the first project and a stepping stone into something new and exciting. We were working on this during the pandemic, so the social distancing rules fed directly into the concept, creating a love story where the characters never share the same frame”

Follow Stevan here for more, and stream his debut mixtape ‘Just Kids’ here.