steinza’s acoustic enchantment “Visions of You” is a gentle giant of candid, heart-on-sleeve introspection: An empathetic, achingly intimate folk rock reverie that establishes Zachary Stein’s singer/songwriter project as one of this year’s artists to watch.
Stream: “Visions of You” – Steinza
I get visions of you that I can’t unsee, I’m all black and blue, but I’ll make believe…
Some people have a way with words; steinza has a way with emotions (and words, too).
Zachary Stein has, for a long time now, captured all those things we don’t say aloud through his reflective, expressive music. The singer/songwriter from Virginia Beach (now based in Nashville) may have toyed with a variety of styles and sounds over the past six years, but the constant in all his art has been the raw vulnerability he injects into every line; every sung note; every moment of every song.
His first single of the year, “Visions of You” (released February 16, 2024) is a gentle giant of candid, heart-on-sleeve introspection; an empathetic, achingly intimate folk rock reverie that finds him dwelling on images he can’t seem to shake from his mind, and deeper down, exploring the ways in which we hold back, conceal our truths, and avoid saying how we truly feel:
Picking you up on a Sunday morning,
service starts at noon
Long red hair and a long red white dress
with a long list of things to do
You were on the phone with Dawn,
talking about the afternoon
I drove us to the steeple,
and we left at half past two
We spent that day diving inside
one another’s minds
Talked politics and dogs and kids
and spending down our lives
But I looked you in your eyes,
and I knew something bad was wrong
But you didn’t have the time,
oh, no, you didn’t wanna talk
“Visions of You” is a painful, poignant song at its core, and yet it comes to life with such vibrant melodies and an irresistibly catchy chorus, that it feels like a campfire singalong: A soul-stirring anthem for all the times we’ve avoided someone’s gaze, or had someone avoid ours; for all those times we’ve buried our emotions within, and every moment we’ve felt a loved one do the same.
steinza aches with the weight of the world as he exhales in a cathartic, impassioned, and emotionally-charged chorus:
Now every night I paint the back of my
Closed up eyelids and see the past
I get visions of you that I can’t unsee
I’m all black and blue, but I’ll make believe
That I’m fine, okay
That I’m doing great
Writing on his social media upon the track’s release, steinza says that this track came together quite quickly and spur-of-the-moment.
“I was at my best friend and cousin’s (verse 2 cameo) baby shower a few months back and went down to the basement (day drunk) with my tiny pawn shop guitar and walked away with this song,” he writes. “Felt iffy about it and my friends were there to make me believe in it.”
Picking you up on a Friday evening,
I was so in love
In Kentucky for the night and
somehow we finally showed up
Saw my best friend and my cousin
and my niece that was eighteen months
Everything was perfect, all of it was just enough
Then the moon fell down, and the
five of us just laughed the time away
But the clock struck twelve and
you had work so we just could not stay
Then I looked you in your eyes,
and I saw sadness in your face
But you didn’t wanna talk,
oh no, you only wanted space
Now every night I paint the back of my
Closed up eyelids and see the past
I get visions of you that I can’t unsee
I’m all black and blue, but I’ll make believe
That I’m fine, okay
That I’m doing great
An acoustic enchantment reminiscent of The Lumineers and Noah Kahan, “Visions of You” is steinza’s first single of the year, arriving on the heels of a very prolific and exciting 2023 that saw the release of not one, but two EPs – July’s The Former, which spawned the runaway hit single of the same name, and November’s Radio Silence, which features the dreamy, dramatic, and utterly spellbinding power ballad “I Know You,” a cinematic duet with fellow Virginia Beach native Matt Maeson.
2024 promises to be another blockbuster year for the fast-rising artist – April saw the release of his latest release, the heartfelt “Tricked” – and if “Visions of You” is any indication of where steinza’s headed, then we’ll be right alongside him – ready to go wherever he takes us next.
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Stream: “Visions of You” – Steinza
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