In “The Nest,” Steven Lipsticks explores those metaphysical Van der Waals forces that bind us to whomever, whatever, or wherever we are bound. Your nest may be your job, your town, your addiction, your guitar, or the tent in the room upstairs in your mother’s house on Archer Avenue that was bought in the winter of your father’s thirty-fifth year, where you lie awake on the sleeping bag that binds you to the girl who will forever step off the Green Line bus as the guitar plays beneath muted strings and the world passes by in a slow-motion dance of memory. Steven Lipsticks’ nest may be that Relationship that remains obliviously seated on the two-person love seat long after the dropping of pointed hints such as “I’ve got to get up early” and “My, we really must do this again sometime” because you will ALWAYS do this again sometime long after your nest has ceased to be a source of comfort and has become the Devil’s Island from which Steve McQueen sought to escape but that Dustin Hoffman eventually accepted as his fate.

“The Nest” opens politely enough with restrained guitars and murmured vocals before exploding like a cherry bomb from Little Tokyo into a thrashing buzzsaw of noise and feedback, guitar piled upon guitar, an effort that required the entirety of a hot Italian summer, as our man stands before a mirror and attempts to talk himself into taking that great leap from the nest and learn with immediate certainty whether he will fly or plummet to the earth like a thawed out yet uncooked Thanksgiving turkey dropped from a hovering helicopter.

Speak to these clever, flashing eyes
It’s up to you to find out why
Will you ever let her waste some other time?

Steven Lipsticks and His Magic Band is Stefano Rossetti of Bologna, Italy. “The Nest” is included on his ? EP, an ever-growing collection of singles that includes “Opinions” and “Steven’s Problems.” Stefano, who provides all instruments and vocals, describes his music as “domestic recordings that blend, with a lo-fi attitude, 60s garage and punk-rock, britpop and psychedelic folk.” This post marks the fifth time Stefano has appeared in these virtual pages, which breaks the four-appearance record previously held by Mike Herz and theCatherines. Hey, I know a good thing when I see one and I’ll keep flogging this horse until Steven Lipsticks is a household word more than 50 paces from his front door, which I admit may require more energetic flogging than I’ve devoted to the project thus far. But who knows? If the Yodeling Walmart Kid can score a contract with Atlantic Records and the Cash Me Outside girl has over 15 million Instagram followers, then Steven Lipsticks should be able to walk into a bar in, say, Florence and have at least three drunks clamoring to buy him a drink. What’s that? You say that already happens when he walks into bars in Florence? Well, I guess I’ve done some good after all.

Recordings by Steven Lipsticks and His Magic Band are available for streaming and download on Bandcamp and Soundcloud. And be sure to follow Steven Lipsticks and His Magic Band on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. For a more in-depth view into the world of Steven Lipsticks and His Magic Band, check out our 2015 feature of his previous album, which includes an extensive Q and A. Stefano was kind enough to answer our questions about everything from influences to equipment, to recording methods.