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Article published Jul 20, 2007 'Grus Americanus' to put Stephanie's Id on the rock map
By Steve Wildsmith of The Daily Times Staff
It’s as close as Stephanie’s Id front woman Stephanie Morgan has gotten — so far — to a Rolling Stone moment:
Last October, Morgan and her bandmate, Chuck Lichtenberger, jetted to Iceland to get married. As with a lot of things that free spirits like Morgan and Lichtenberger do, they planned nothing in advance and were driving around one day, looking for a place to wed, a friend in tow.
“We found this tiny church in the middle of a lava field, in this country that’s one of the most remote parts of the world,” Morgan told The Daily Times this week. “It was maintained by a museum society, and there was nothing there — nothing at all. We wrote our own vows, so we had a short ceremony, and when we come out, there’s (senior editor) David Fricke with Rolling Stone magazine.
“He was just standing there with some friends, waiting to go in the church because he and his friends thought something was going on there. He was there to cover the Icelandic Airwaves Music Fest for Rolling Stone. Our friend Eric kept whispering, ‘Do you have a CD on you?’ But of course we didn’t.”
She laughs at the memory. A month or so later, Fricke’s write-up about the festival appeared in the magazine — a short piece that made no mention of Morgan, Lichtenberger or Stephanie’s Id.
Not that it matters. With a new album, “Grus Americanus,” set for release this week, it would be some sort of musical travesty if Stephanie’s Id flies under the Rolling Stone radar for much longer. It’s an album that veers all over the musical map, from the piano-driven lead-off track (“Wash Us Down With Sea Saline”) to the lilting melodies of “Unmistakably Love” to the Erykah Badu-esque funkiness of “Cindy.” Funk, soul and R&B seem to be a thread woven throughout the tapestry that is “Grus Americanus” — songs like “Hey Hey Hey (It’s Gonna Be OK),” “Cold Cold” and even the torch-song ballad “Aeroplanes” sound as if they’ll be just as at home in the smoky lounge of a jazz club as they will from the stage of an outdoor festival (such as the annual Idfest, hosted by the band each year in its hometown of Asheville, N.C.).
With vocals as smoky and sultry as a glass of red wine, Morgan sounds like a woman at home with who she is and her place in the music scene. It’s been a long time coming, she said, but it’s a self-assuredness that’s been with her since the very beginning.
“When I was in first grade, I remember walking along my tiny school campus in Colorado Springs, and this girl came up behind me,” Morgan said. “Apparently, she thought I was swinging my lips too much, because she started making fun of me, singing, ‘Walking like a hotshot!’ I heard comments like that from then on — that I was a show-off, or something like that.
“As I grew older, I started covering those things up and trying to change them to fit in with everyone else. And my whole adulthood has been an unfolding of those layers. That’s why I named the band Stephanie’s Id, because it’s about getting to the core of who I am and how it relates to the core of who everybody is.”
The band first formed in 2001 around Morgan, Lichtenberger and drummer/producer Vic Stafford. Stafford left after a few demos were recorded, and vibraphonist/drummer Matthew Richmond was added to the fold. The group’s first album, “Spiral In,” was immediately seized upon by regional media — WNCW-FM included it in its Top 100 national releases at the end of the year, and the Asheville Ballet choreographed a “rock ballet” to the music. New York’s JANE magazine chose the song “Popsicles” for its 2005 compilation, and in early 2006, the group released a B-sides EP (“This EP is Money”).
That same year, Morgan and Lichtenberger found themselves collaborating again with Stafford on a track that would become “Unmistakably Love.” It marked a significant new direction for Stephanie’s Id.
“It was a really improvisatory thing, and even though the vibraphone is all over the new album, Matthew and his wife had a little boy, so he’s started to do other things a little more locally,” Morgan said. “We still work with him whenever we can at festivals and things that are local, and now we’ve got Rob Geisler on bass and this young guy, Michael Libramento, on guitar, and he’s just a prodigy.
“I think the new album is a little more accessible and a little more rock ‘n’ roll than it used to be. I love to be experimental, and I’m enchanted with writing these great rock songs and pop songs with great hooks and harmonies. With Michael, we’ve brought in the rock hooks, and it definitely feels like an evolution.”
More than anything, she added, it marks another stripping-back of the layers — of who she is and what the music means, both to her personally and to those who consider themselves fans. From the speakers drifts the sound of a woman who’s more sure of herself than ever before — confident but not cocky; determined and undaunted, ready for the next step on a journey in which music and life are intertwined.
“As an artist, I feel more like myself than ever, ever before,” she said. “I feel a whole lot of freedom with this record. Given the fact that the band has had so many changes in personnel, it’s really become clear that I’m the historian in the band. I feel like I had a lot more ownership in it this time, and I’ve sort of taken it on and said, ‘This is what we’re going to do.’
“Luckily, these folks I’m playing with are really into it, and they’ll take it, add their own ideas and allow the whole thing to click really well. I feel really good about this record, and we had a blast making it. Hopefully, the next one will be another step along the way to wherever it is we’re going.”