Tibo Step - QUARTZ (Album)
Tibo Step – QUARTZ: A Quietly Dazzling Alt Soul Gem
After years moving quietly through London’s alt soul and indie jazz circles, Tibo Step (Thibaut Stepczynski) returns with QUARTZ, an album that feels less like a collection of songs and more like a finely cut emotional diary. Raised in Switzerland and now rooted in London, Tibo draws on his work as a producer, guitarist and songwriter to craft music defined by intimacy, restraint and atmosphere. On QUARTZ, that sensibility crystallises.
A world built from space, subtlety, and intention
From the opening track People, Tibo establishes a sonic language of soft focus guitars, warm synths and rhythms that seem to hover. Rather than chasing big moments, he leans into nuance, textures carved with care and melodies that breathe.
Jeremy expands the palette through airy harmonies from Bella Jeanne and Sara El Hachimi, while Life (featuring trumpeter Johnny Woodham) places brass not as decoration but as an emotional throughline, echoing the gentler corners of London’s jazz soul scene.
A story of fracture and clarity
The middle of the album sinks into quieter territory. Sweet Memories and Separate slow the pulse, letting lo-fi textures act as emotional hinge points. Tancia’s Interlude floats by like mist before the French language Trop Bas strips everything back to vulnerability.
Then comes Enough Is Never Enough, co created with Anatole Muster: syncopated electronics, ambiguous harmonies and one of the album’s boldest compositional moments.
Soft endings, honest endings
The album’s back half moves with featherlight confidence. Let It Go and No Talk explore minimalism, while Tôt ou Tardblends 1980s tinged synths with bilingual introspection.
By the time I Couldn’t Lose You and Gone close the record, Tibo has dissolved the tension into gentle guitars and unadorned vocals, choosing clarity over climax.
A quietly assured artistic arrival
What makes QUARTZ stand out is its maturity. Tibo’s guitar phrasing, his production detail and his narrative pacing feel considered yet effortless. Influences from UK jazz soul, dream pop and neo R&B surface but never overshadow his own voice. The bilingual moments deepen the emotional range rather than serve as stylistic flourishes.
In a scene overflowing with talent, QUARTZ positions Tibo Step as a distinctive, soft spoken force, an artist whose evolution feels both early and already compelling.
A luminous, introspective project, QUARTZ invites you not just to listen but to feel.