By LYNDSAY CAYETANA BOUCHAL

lbouchal@njherald.com

STANHOPE ­-- From plastic guitar to a 1960s Prestige electric guitar, from basement concerts to a national tour, Steve Marion, lead guitarist of local band Delicate Steve, is bounding like a proud elephant onto the main stage.

Home now, after touring the country for the last three months, Marion, 23, and his band Delicate Steve will perform a "welcome back" show at the Stanhope House tonight, with area bands, Indian Princess, The Flops and Gypsy Wig.

"I feel really excited and thankful to get the opportunity to play a show with James (Abbott) and his new band (Indian Princess)," Marion said. "We spent a good period of our lives growing together musically and personally and I'm happy to have the chance to play again together."

The Fredon resident began taking private piano lessons as child, but when he was given a toy guitar by his grandmother one Christmas, the young musician quickly switched to guitar. Disinterested by the songs he was taught, however, Marion instead looked up chords online and learned to play songs by ear.

His first brush with the professional world of music came in 2004 when his high school band was signed by Warner Brothers. Marion was a 2005 Pope John graduate. The band recorded an album soon thereafter, but the record was held from release. Marion experienced his first major heartbreak in the music industry. The group disbanded in 2006.

Marion attempted to start a new band "for a minute," but when efforts ceased to materialize into anything substantial, the guitarist said he gave up and hit the road, taking a 50-day road trip cross country in 2008.

"By day 45, I started to really want to come back and play music," Marion said.

Upon his arrival home, Marion stepped back into the music scene, spending much of his time making a modest living recording other musicians in his bedroom-turned-recording studio and collaborating with friends and fellow artists to produce compilations.

On Oct. 22, 2009, Marion found himself at a Dirty Projectors concert in Washington, D.C. He had just completed his first 10-mile run after suffering heart complications, and he was emerging from inspiring vortex of unbridled organic creativity, restful mediation and deep contemplation.

He left the indie band's show with newfound clarity: He would record an album, his first solo album of his burgeoning career.

Marion spent the next two months in a free-flowing state of slide-guitar musing, progressive rhythms and guitar riffs slipping from his fingertips, single-handedly recording each song, piece by piece.

In December 2009, he self-released "Wondervisions," an intense half-hour, 12-track album.

"At the time, the home studio thing was in my room, all the guys were doing other stuff -- college, high school -- and they weren't interested in getting together on a daily level, so I just felt inspired to do it (on my own)," Marion said.

"Wondervisions" is nearly ineffable with its percussion-heavy, frenetic drum machine beats, relaxing riffs, and sugary melodies. Marion describes his music as "dance-y"; not quite rock, more so pop; instrumental, but with a little bit of singing; experimental, but "experimental with myself ... I wasn't trying to make an â experimental album'".

That December, Marion assembled his band of talented friends and fellow musicians and spent the next 13 months touring small venues ­-- sometimes crowds in the single digits -- with the highlight of opening a huge show for buzz band Yeasayer this past summer in New York. The Governor's Island venue was packed to capacity at 3,500.

On Feb. 7, Jon Pareles, of The New York Times, reviewed "Wondervisions" as a Critics' Choice for New CDs: "The music is handmade, except where it's blatantly artificial, and has a folksy twang, except where it's more like progressive rock."

Pareles wrote, "And while Delicate Steve often sets out a straightforward melody ... there's no telling when a track will take an abrupt, peculiar tangent."

Three months ago, Luaka Bop, David Byrne's (of the Talking Heads) record label, signed Delicate Steve. 

"I wrote a list of every single record label I was into ... and mailed off CDs, and maybe heard from 5 percent of them," Marion said. "They said â no' or â this sounds good, but we just can't put anything out'."

"(When I got signed), it felt like a dream come true," he said.

The record deal, however, was not the fruit of Marion's persistence and diligent networking. Rather, it was "a random personal connection" when he invited a friend of a friend to a basement show in Brooklyn, who happened to be a talent scout for Luaka Bop, Marion said. 

"I had no intentions of playing it (the album) live or becoming a band," Marion said.

Now, when the band performs live, Delicate Steve becomes a five-piece band: Percussionist Mike Duncan, 24, of Sparta, bassist Adam Pumilia, 23, of Sparta, guitarist Christian Peslak, 19, and Mickey Sanchez, of Succasunna, on the keyboards. 

Delicate Steve has spent the last three months traveling with progressive folk-influenced trio Akron/Family, driving a van along the Atlantic on their East Coast tour before B-lining it to Austin to perform several shows on their own at the coveted South by Southwest Musical Festival. After, Delicate Steve reconnected with Akron/Family in California to start their West Coast tour. Marion returned home Saturday to his bedroom recording studio and began working on new music after one day's rest.

In between some regional gigs in Philadelphia and New York City this month, Marion is trying to nestle himself back into the creative cocoon he found himself in the fall of 2009.

The musician's goal now, is "to keep making music I'm excited about, be open to try new things creatively and expand musically and personally".

"If this is all that it ever is, I'm happy with it," Marion said.