Steven Faulkner – “I Do Still Believe”
Steven Faulkner – “I Do Still Believe” – Single Review
Well done Steven, well done.
I have days where I share the optimism he’s singing with on his new single “I Do Still Believe,” though not nearly as many as I think I was hoping to have at this point in my life. Will that change? Probably. Optimism fluctuates naturally over time. Sometimes we’re lucky enough to be naïve. Sometimes we’re overconfident. Sometimes we lie to ourselves. Sometimes we have false hope. Sometimes false hope is intentional, and sometimes it ain’t. Sometimes we overthink everything, and being optimistic seems like it’s just about the last thing we can be. Sometimes we’re fortunate enough that the positives will outweigh the negatives, at least for a short while, allowing us to catch our breath. “Although it’s a struggle I do still believe that there are still milestones that I can achieve,” sings Steven…and I genuinely hope that’s true for the guy – he’s a good dude. Crazy to think I’ve been listening to his music for nearly an entire decade at this point. Crazier to think that I originally thought there’d be a whole bunch of us reaching these kinds of career highlights when I first started doing what I do at sleepingbagstudios…and even crazier still to realize that’s been nowhere near the case. Shout-outs to all of you that are have been a part of our journey and are still keepin’ on keepin’ on to this very day…you’re the rarest of rare.
I don’t think you can listen to a song like “I Do Still Believe” without at least taking some kind of stock of your own situation. Obviously that’s a good thing – any artist or band would only ever hope that you can find some sort of way to engage with the art they create on some level. I really like the bittersweet effect that listening to this song had on me. On the best of days, I know “there are still milestones that I can achieve,” and I’ll focus on that. On the worst of days, I know that there’s never going to be enough time to accomplish all the many things I’d want to do in the course of one go around, and that’s a tough thing to be at peace with. I don’t know if doing my best will ever be enough for me. Hell, I’d be the first to tell you that I haven’t achieved a damn thing in my life that I’ve been able to be proud of, and I don’t know what success by my own definition would even feel like. What if I finally accomplish something that I’ve set out to do, and the feeling of success wasn’t nearly as satisfying as I always hoped it would be? What if it only becomes a reminder of all the things I’ve still yet to do? Success that’s symbolic of failure? Seems like a shitty deal, don’t it? I suppose all you can ever do is show up every day, and try.
Even when you do find yourself in those blessed optimistic moments in life, there’s no guarantee that you’ll get there at the same time as those that supported you along the way, or folks you once thought of teaming up with to conquer the world. This whole site is haunted with the hopes and dreams of what could have been, and has been from the very moment it started. For those of you that know the history, you’ll remember this all began as a quasi-partnership between two friends that I had thought were at the same point, ready to make that jump into the unknown and see where it took us. That lasted about three weeks – and I’ve been doing what I do alone for more than fourteen years after that ever since. “My biggest fear is to die without living,” says Steven…and for the most part, I agree. I think the only hell that could potentially be worse than that is to have tried the things you thought would fill the hole, just to discover that nothing really does. That’s the confused point of which I find myself in more than I used to these days.
Anyhow. It’s never a surprise to me to hear Faulkner writing another excellent song – it’s what he was always meant to do, and it’s always ever been a matter of him putting his nose to the grindstone to do it. It’s been about four years since he was last featured here on these pages of ours, but it would have been silly to think he wouldn’t be back one day. Music is who he is & what he’s all about, and I highly suspect that’ll always be the case. Hell, I’d tell you there’s a good chance he’ll still be around long after I’m gone…and I’d tell you in the same breath that that’s all I’d ever want for him too. I think what’s crucial is the exchange of energy. Maybe it’s always going to be impossible to have our trains arriving at the same time as the people we’d hope would take a ride along with us to the destination we were hoping to arrive at…and maybe that’s something we all need to learn to be okay with. Maybe in those moments where we’re down, we simply need to make more of an effort to borrow something from those that are more inspired at the time. Like, if I’m not in a good place right now, then maybe it’s time to let Steven take the wheel for a while, you feel me? Maybe if YOU come to this place to read something uplifting and I’m just not capable of providing that for a moment or two, YOU can still find songs like “I Do Still Believe” that can give you what you need.
And if that’s the case, I sincerely hope that you do, and that you find what you’re looking for one way or another. I’ve never been one to pretend I’ve got all the answers, but I’ve been lucky enough to stumble onto a few along the way. I’ve heard it said that self-preservation is the first law of nature, and maybe that’s true. Maybe we all need to recharge and regroup and remember that that’s all okay to do when we need to do it. Maybe when we seem like we’re gone, we’re still somewhere in the shadows, waiting for that next moment when we feel like we can step back into the spotlight where our stars truly shine the brightest. I like the optimism you’ll find at the core of this latest single from Steven Faulkner, and I have the feeling I won’t be the only person who benefits from hearing it. Music has always been there when we need it most, and heroes have a tendency to show up right before the bridge collapses, don’t they? I could go into how all the pieces of this tune are in the right place where you’d wanna find them, but again, if you’ve been listening to Faulkner’s music for as long as I have, you’d know that this reality was practically predetermined. Every step he’s taken, whether it’s felt like it’s been backwards or not, has led him to exactly where he is today…and in that respect, it’d be extremely hard to argue that he hasn’t been moving in a forward direction, with himself as a person, and/or with his music as an artist. I’m happy he’s back to doing what he loves most…there’s something comforting about that…people should be doing what they want to do in this world I figure, or at least have the wherewithal to find a way to be able to spend the time they have in their passions. I don’t know that we all have the opportunity it takes or the strength to seek that out, but “I Do Still Believe” that anything’s possible when we live our dreams out loud. It’s all I’ve ever wanted for Steven Faulkner…and it’s all I’ve ever wanted for the rest of you too.
Find out more about Steven Faulkner from his official website at: https://stevenfaulknermusic.co.uk
Click this link right here to be the next artist or band featured here at sleepingbagstudios, because hey – why not? All the cool kids are doing it.
