Saint Rich is the musical partnership of Delicate Steve bandmates Christian Peslak and Steve Marion. Under the name Delicate Steve, Steve Marion recorded Wondervisions, an instrumental record released by David Byrne’s Luaka Bop label that entered the world via a glowing New York Times review. He followed it up with a second, equally heralded release, Positive Force. With vocal appreciation from many of the indie-rock world’s beloved bands and constant touring, the band began its own ascent into the indie pantheon.
One day last year, during a pause in near constant touring for Delicate Steve, Marion began to work on some new material with Christian Peslak, the group’s guitarist and a musical collaborator of Marion’s since high school. At their rehearsal space in Marion’s home in rural Sussex County, New Jersey, the duo found themselves working together in ways that felt completely different than their work on Delicate Steve songs. Marion put down his guitar and got behind the drum kit. Peslak started strumming the opening chords to "Dreams," a new song they’d finish within the hour. By the end of the weekend, neither had left the house. There were seven new songs. And a new band. They named it Saint Rich. Peslak has provided the rhythmic guitar bedrock to Marion’s wandering melody lines in Delicate Steve. On Beyond the Drone, the debut album from Saint Rich, it’s fair to say that Marion has created the bedrock for Peslak’s wandering.
