Steven Hall, Arthur Russell’s veteran longtime collaborator, finally steps right into the center of the solo stage under the alias Nirosta Steel. MY SKYSCRAPER is an inherently “unfinished” work brought to life tremendously through sensory art-folk, breathless leftfield disco, and experimental synth-pop elements. It stands as both an archival triumph and one of the most exciting and fresh albums of the year.
The Philosophy of “Deep Play” and a Life Walk
Steven Hall, the name behind Nirosta Steel, frequently invokes the concept of “deep play.” Coined by 18th-century English philosopher Jeremy Bentham, this term defines a game with stakes so high and odds so impossible that no rational person would accept them. Rather than amateur spirit or mere faith, this understanding of “deep play” became the guiding principle directing Hall’s extraordinary life walk.
After convincing his widowed mother to marry her closest suitor and moving from Scotland to America, Hall studied poetry under Allen Ginsberg and Buddhism under Chögyam Trungpa (the master who popularized the idea that “first thought is best thought”). Ultimately, he found the creative partner of his life in the late Arthur Russell. Hall shared this passion for “deep play” with Russell, and over time this philosophy became the soul of the countless works they recorded together. After all, what is music if not the idea of play stretched out across time? A shared conspiracy hatched by an artist, their collaborators, and the listener to test the limits of sound… Hall summarizes it like this in an interview with Tone Glow:
“I don’t want there to be any difference between rehearsals, live performances, and studio recordings. It should all be one single whole. As if you’re walking out of one and into the other, staying at a single party from beginning to end.”
Playing is the most fundamental need of human nature, but unfortunately, it is not always enough to build a sustainable career. While Arthur Russell’s legacy was tremendously kept alive through books, documentaries, and archival releases, Hall’s solo work for years never went beyond rare independent pressings. Choosing to remain a generous friend, Hall kept Russell’s legacy alive with the Arthur’s Landing project. However, a comprehensive work focusing on his own solo output was never made. Now, joining forces with the ULYSSA label, Hall finally takes on the delayed starring role he truly deserves.
Bearing the Nirosta Steel signature and standing as the product of forty years of accumulation, MY SKYSCRAPER is literally a paradox: a work crafted with immense finesse yet inherently unfinished; both an archival triumph and one of the year’s most exciting new albums. Serving as a small but intense summary of a massive talent, the album vividly reflects that deeply rooted queer spirit of Lower Manhattan that is now on the verge of fading from the world. MY SKYSCRAPER not only seals Steven Hall’s status as Russell’s most precious partner in crime, but also proves that he was a musical genius on equal footing with Russell all along.
From the Dance Floor to Minimalist Elegies
MY SKYSCRAPER is, above all, a party album; however, the party’s venue, guests, and atmosphere shift from song to song. Right after playful and direct tracks like “English Party,” which began as a demo written for Madonna, Hall throws twist after twist at the listener—each weirder and “dirtier” than the last. He possesses a stark sound performance that places him in the same league as David Byrne or Jonathan Richman. The appealing and flirtatious tone in his voice elevates his obscene songs to a nearly scandalous dimension. Even in moments bordering on absurdity, such as the insistent falsetto boasts in “Yhema” or the Chinese opera vocals in “Mohan (Mandarin Version),” Hall displays a miraculous talent for suddenly shifting gears and seducing you all over again.
The Balearic disco treasure “Boss Trix (Benny’s Song)” swells alongside flirtatious guitars and muted strings with the lyrics “It’s all pouring out / Blessings of peace and love!” The song was inspired by Hall’s boyfriend. To gently torture the Buddhist concept of non-dualism: the song is both utterly filthy and incredibly funny and moving.
Sound Layers in a Time Capsule
A large part of MY SKYSCRAPER rests on song skeletons revisited decades later and enriched with delicate production touches. Much like recent classics by Cindy Lee and Los Thuthanaka, this album exists in its own time capsule; echoing across years while subverting any idea of linear tradition or progress. Despite feeling like a grand artistic manifesto, almost no song has a single “definitive” version.
Multiple Nirosta Steel tracks are presented in several musical permutations, where subtle tweaks yield radically different emotional effects. For instance, “First Love” appears on the album both as an echoing lo-fi recording and an exuberant disco mix. While the bare vocals in the first version transform the song into a haunting elegy for the loss of innocence, the second version takes the sweet hope of young love and turns it into a musical disco ball.
Pure Tones, Drones, and Buddhist Touches
One of the shared musical principles to which Hall and Russell held tightly was avoiding vibrato and believing in the power of pure tones and drones (sustained single tones). MY SKYSCRAPER follows this ethic as well, capturing a tremendous sonic depth that feels like passing through a cloud. “Go for the Night” creates a literal wave of warmth out of pure texture with muffled horns, lustful vocals, and ringing guitars.
Hall is just as captivating in minimalist moments. The a cappella track “Greyboy” is a helpless plea trying to comprehend why he was abandoned for a grey-haired boy. Layering his vocals into an eerie choir, the artist cuts deep in moments where the sound swells and abruptly cuts off. It’s like listening to the song of an endangered bird whose mate has fallen silent for a duet that will never be answered…
On the other side of Hall’s party-driven spirit stand songs in search of living in the present. Traces of Buddhism are felt most strongly in the two-part “Fresh Feeling” and the 22-minute “Special Weakness.” Russell’s insistent drums and Hall’s tense guitar dominate every second. The effort to name a feeling while grappling with someone else’s heart turns these two tracks into a masterpiece of dilemma:
“What do you do when you fall in love in two different places at the same time? I can’t find love in the future tense; so I return to a love in the present.”
NO-26 Editor’s Final Note
As poet and naturalist Diane Ackerman said: “Above all, play requires freedom. One chooses to play… It occurs outside ordinary life and demands freedom.” After decades of accumulation, what makes MY SKYSCRAPER so special is that it invites the listener in with the very same openheartedness with which it was created.
Its greatest triumph is its ability to exist simply as itself. This is music made to be played with; it demands a lot from you, but in return, it gives so much of itself, turning the present moment into the only place you’d ever want to be.
