Steven Ray Morris is a guy who knows how to get inside of RetroLowFi’s heart. He runs a fun-to-read blog called Foggy Ruins Of Time, he seems to have similar tastes and interests to the five writers around these parts, and you know what? I’ve never been in the same room with him, but I’m willing to bet that he’s a damned swell guy to be around. I base this mostly on the fact that he sent us his newest release, A Winter’s Tale Told In Spring, for free. We like to get free records in the mail. Hell, it’s pretty much why we started this zine in the first place, and I’d be lying if I told you otherwise. And A Winter’s Tale Told In Spring is our favorite type of record to receive. A unique, lovingly handcrafted slab of lo-fi goodness.

The music that Steven Ray Morris makes as Existential Hero is admittedly lo-fi on record, and his songs are a bit too folky for twee and vice versa. He’s got the earnesty factor in spades, with an everyman voice that makes you believe every single word that comes out of his mouth. Instrumentation is usually based around his trusty acoustic guitar, but you’ll find appearances by mandolins, harmonicas and the occasional MicroKORG as well. And while the record is pretty straightforward in the song department, Morris isn’t afraid to break up the affair with the occasional auditory experiment - see the processed harmonica intro to “This Is Living” and the sound bite that opens “Fire & Brimstone (Macbeth’s Noise)” for reference.

A Winter’s Tale Told In Spring revolves mostly around the basic themes of life and loving. Might seem like I’m super generalizing there, but it’s true. Each track delves into the minutia of everyday life just a bit more, with “Late Afternoon Assistance” being the best example of such, but it’s the ruminations on the tug of war between love and friendship that really makes A Winter’s Tale take flight. Especially with the so-catchy-it-oughta-be-a-classic “I Don’t Care About Love (I Just Want To Be Your Friend)” and its inevitable response song “I Don’t Care About Friendship (I Just Want Your Love)”.

I’d recommend Existential Hero to any fans of Santa Barbara’s new wave of DIY artists - especially those of you who are already digging on Jellybean, A Lime Tree, Iamb and Jon Crocker - but it’s Morris’s attention to detail that ultimately helps him stand apart from the aforementioned pack. Always happy to throw a curveball into the proceedings via unexpected sound collages drawn from cartoons, hidden tracks at a time when compact discs couldn’t be less fashionable, or giving you a detailed booklet when you’re expecting little more than a CD-R with a colored-in cover . . . Existential Hero is on the right path to winning the hearts of the lo-fi community. Hell, a few more records this cool, and the indie world at large will be Morris’s burrito.

Existential Hero - I Don’t Care About Love (I Just Want To Be Your Friend).mp3

Visit the Existential Hero MySpace page to hear more, as well as buy a record for yourself!