Karen Stever is a Canadian recording artist with a lot of interesting things to say. Her music has been described as Metal, Progressive Rock, Alternative Rock…but in actual fact it’s probably better classified as having no genre at all – Stever genuinely loves music, and takes her inspiration from everywhere.
Karen grew up listening to all sorts of music…almost. Speaking to pop culture blog, “A Shroud of Thoughts“, she said,
Everything except country. It was pretty much banned from my home as my father was a touring musician who got paid the most to play country and hated it. His annoyance rubbed off on us like a prejudice. HA! Despite the fact that I loved the metal, pop, new wave stuff that my siblings listened to, anything orchestral and rock made me “feel” the most. My home was filled with just about every kind of music you can imagine…and family jams on Sundays. Many people know about Lisa Dalbello being a heavy influence on me as she never seemed afraid to be herself. She taught me through her music to accept my own voice and experiment with it.
Following the release of her first album, “Playground Isolator“, back in 2008, Stever has been working solidly on her follow up, “Idiot Savant”, which was finally released through Pledge Music late last year.
Idiot Savant is a concept album, based in the 1930s, where things weren’t quite as enlightened as they are today (some would argue we still have a long way to go on that front). Focusing on the life of a 9 year old boy named Ian, who is a “savant” with a gift for understanding animals, Stever says:
“…it’s dark, it’s ugly with glimmers of hope…the message is that no child should be defeated by our system, have their dreams become their nightmare…My hope with Idiot Savant is to inspire others to THRIVE. My hope is not to have some trendy viral event, but a solid life-changing experience where we reunite with who we really are and get back to the things we are passionate about.”
We’re hoping to catch up with Karen soon and tap into what makes her tick. In the meantime, check out her video for “Juggernaut”, from Idiot Savant:
[youtube https://youtu.be/lIOvPgv2pTc]
