Forgotten New York beatnik's genre-bending masterpiece finally blows Gen Z away
Scottish musician Steven Hall, long overlooked, suddenly gains critical acclaim for his double LP 'My Skyscraper' under the name Nirosta Steel, compiling four decades of eclectic recordings.
Steven Hall, a 69-year-old Scottish musician living in Illinois and driving an Uber for extra income, has become the subject of sudden critical acclaim. His double LP 'My Skyscraper', released last month under the pseudonym Nirosta Steel, has been hailed by Pitchfork as 'an archival triumph and one of the year's most thrilling new releases'.
The album compiles recordings from 1984 to 2025, spanning disco, folk, synth-pop, with detours into Chinese opera and ecclesiastical a cappella. It all began when a label head, impressed with Hall's 2014 album 'Cool Fire', asked if he had more music. Hall shared a couple of dozen unreleased songs spanning four decades, revealing connections to experimental icons like Arthur Russell and Allen Ginsberg.
Born in Milngavie, Scotland, Hall moved to the US as a teenager after his father's death. He briefly attended Naropa University, studying dance and poetry under Douglas Dunn and William S. Burroughs. In New York, he met Arthur Russell, forming a deep friendship and collaboration playing backup for Ginsberg's poetry sets. Two of their co-written songs appear on the album: 'Go for the Night' and the lo-fi elegy 'Lost in Thought', though the latter was replaced by a 22-minute improvisation featuring Russell on drums – one of only three known recordings of him playing the instrument.
The album was released with 'no plan, no budget, no promotion', but within two weeks the label had 1,000 orders and is pressing 2,000 copies. Hall hopes to reignite his writing with new collaborators and plans a covers album including his take on Sade's 'No Ordinary Love'.
