Hefter, with more than a little help from an ensemble cast of co-conspirators, has been churning out a steady stream of memorable, musical heartache since the late 90's. Having initially shared writing duties with Judd Bolger (Judd and Maggie) and Bllly Gordon (J. Roddy Walston and the Business) in Sons of Buford and Challenge Club, respectively, the lyrically-driven folk sensibilities and melodic indie-rock textures have seamlessly converged on Twist and Hold Til' Morning. Steve Hefter and Friends of Friends' sophomoric effort...
isn't a somber album, though it has its somber moments; rather, it is a low-key, somewhat soothing album with surprisingly festive and bonding tunes like "Apocalypse". If only all bad news could be delivered this way. (SEN Baltimore Magazine)
With an ear for focused, folk-inspired indie-rock, Steve Hefter and Friends of Friends have created a delightful album with “Twist and Hold ‘til Morning.†This is just the bare bones of folk and indie music, no elegiac musicianship or slick production, only lonely notes and wry lyrics and it’s all for the best. The simplicity is refreshingly honest. It’s nice to hear an album that relies solely on the strength of its songwriting and in that respect, “Twist and Hold…†succeeds over and over again. (On Tap Online Blog- D.C.)
Hefter's hard work paid off with the batch of tunes on his new album, Twist and Hold Til' Morning.The songs are sparsely produced, and center on Hefter and his acoustic guitar. (Sam Sessa, The Baltimore Sun's Midnight Sun blog)
In all honesty, for most of us the glass is not being filled. If we happen to be fortunate enough to have half a glass of water the odds are good that it is steadily evaporating. Steve Hefter and his friends (and their friends) began their first album with a plaintive complaint of being dry, crippled, invisible, and dreaming of impossibly lunatic things. But now monsoon floods are coming to drown a drought stricken land. The rain will drown us eventually, And the pain will crown us with thorns until we Fall down defeated and come around free. Beautiful, wouldn’t it be. Too much is better than not enough, but sometimes it’s almost as bad. -Isaac Morrison
Other folks' thoughts on the debut E.P., A Six Song Demonstration:
Steve Hefter and Friends’ debut attempt at a self-produced and self-engineered album, which is a whopping seventeen and a half minutes, is pure gold. This has got to be one of the best self-released albums of the year. -independentclauses.com (also included in their top ten releases of the year for 06')
The big difficulty facing songwriters today is finding new ways to tell old stories. The honesty and simplicity of their lyrics gets them past that barrier. -Music Monthly
