Whatever your thoughts are on artists with goofy monikers, Ted Davis (aka DJ STEPDAD) has likely heard them before. In line with Davis’s worldview at large, the name of the dance project is as much an act of lighthearted sincerity as it is a reflection of his unbothered sense of humor.
Initially a product of the short-lived lo-fi house boom and its endless cheekily-named producers, DJ STEPDAD began in 2018—around the same time Davis started hosting scrappy living room raves out of dingy college houses in Orange County. Reconnecting with a childhood friend over beers and Serato that winter break, the conversation turned to all the support Davis’s stepdad, Mike, had given his musical pursuits over the years. The name DJ STEPDAD had a ring to it, and was decided then and there as a quasi-tribute.
Aside from the 2019 EP, for my stepchildren vol. 1, and the occasional stand-alone single, DJ STEPDAD remained a fleeting party trick while Davis relocated to Los Angeles in the early throes of the pandemic. Quickly becoming a respected critical voice in ambient music, Davis was netting bylines with his favorite publications while his own music fell into stasis. Lacking a sense of community in the SoCal sprawl, it didn’t take Davis long to find what he had been missing after relocating to New York in 2022. Within weeks of moving, DJ STEPDAD was playing sets on The Lot Radio, and building friendships with formative electronic influences.
The coastal shift and refocus on music would come to shape time to figure things out, Davis’s forthcoming EP and proper reintroduction to the project. Named after a 1970s expression signaling a couple heading for divorce, time to figure things out fittingly finds Davis rebuilding his relationship with DJ STEPDAD. Between properly learning how to DJ ahead of travel dates for the first time, and having mixes featured on NTS and Dublab, the result is an inward-gazing collection of tracks that capture Davis’s confidence being built in real time.
Nowhere is that clearer than on EP opener “heaven’s on fire,” which challenges what any DJ STEPDAD track has sounded like before it. Giving the beloved Radio Dept. single a deep house rework, the cover centers Davis’s vocals on a track for the first time under a woozy, autotuned sheen. Not letting time to figure things out become an isolated affair, Davis recruited college rave co-host Alex Conradt for time to figure things out’s artwork and enlisted Doom Trip Records label head Zac Emerson (Panda Bear, Maral) for mastering duties. “dads can’t step” and “she took the kids” stay committed to the divorced dad bit, but a move towards higher fidelity, along with Emerson’s mastering handiwork, have allowed DJ STEPDAD’s fog-enveloped production to soar. Closing with the restless, pop-sampling highlight “bad vibes,” time to figure things out sounds, if anything, like an artist that figured it out.
time to figure things out is out January 26th, 2024, as a self-release.
