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Kapiti Coast singer-songwriter, Steph Casey’s, 10,000 Hail Marys EP, signals a new direction, both in style and instrumentation, with a gritty, overdriven guitar sound throughout, alongside two songs beautifully composed and performed on piano. 10,000 Hail Marys, was recorded in winter 2026 at The Surgery Studio, Wellington, by multi-award-winning engineer Lee Prebble (L.A.B, Phoenix Foundation), with a raft of talented musicians and regular collaborators in support.

The EP was seven years in the making. The result – her most fearless, honest release to date.

After releasing her sophomore album, The Seats In My Car, in mid 2019, Steph Casey toured the album around New Zealand. She then travelled to the United States where she performed with musicians she had collaborated with online. This trip was to have a profound effect on her, and her songwriting.

The real momentum for the new music came post August 2024, when Steph decided to spend more time creating and performing music.

“After much consideration, I quit my day job and immersed myself in music full-time, doing solo live gigs, and writing songs. I spent the past 22 months writing, performing at clubs, festivals, cafes, and bars, and working on a set of songs I felt I could stand behind“. The five songs that really stood out, resulted in the 10,000 Hail Marys EP.

Across the recording, Steph is backed by a stellar line-up of musicians, the core of whom comprise the three principal members of indie-pop band Let’s Planet: Caroline Easther (The Chills, The Warratahs, The Verlaines) on drums, Alan Galloway (Let’s Planet, Galloway) on electric guitar and Murray Costello (The Mockers, Sneaky Feelings, the Wooden Box Band) on bass. These highly respected musicians have been playing together for more than three decades and you can hear the resulting tight, considered arrangements that lay down a solid foundation across this EP. Singer-songwriters Hanne Jøstensen and Annette Esquenet also contribute their talent with backing harmonies.

After hanging up her acoustic guitar in 2024 and finally buying a G&L ASAT Telecaster, the electric guitar she’d dreamed of for more than 20 years, Steph began experimenting with a new way of playing and writing. From this came the distorted guitar, pop-influenced, songs, ‘10,000 Hail Marys‘ and ‘Cool Glass of Water‘. The former, the title track off the EP and the second single released, has Steph at her vocal and guitar playing, rocking best! Loaded with attitude and fun, it has all the elements of an addictive high-energy grunge-pop track!.

“I upped the distortion on my amp, and then I’d come full circle back to the grunge band I was in during my early twenties, when I played electric guitar and went to see bands nearly every weekend at my local, Bar Bodega.”

“Just as folk and Americana informed my previous two albums, this genre of music has always had a strong influence on me“.

Never one to sit on her laurels or be boxed in by sound and genre, in 2018 Steph offered to look after an antique, family heirloom Lipp piano for two years. The piano, a very special instrument with a beautiful tone, brought about the two piano tracks on the EP. With no piano tuition, Steph taught herself to play, developing her own unique style by experimenting with different techniques.

The two piano-driven songs on the EP document a couple of pivotal moments in time, the first, being stuck in the US surrounded by wildfire, in the little-known town of Merced. The resulting powerful track ‘Merced‘ was the first single released from this EP in September 2026, clearly demonstrating Steph’s strong songwriting ability and her power to tell stories through music. This track also features the voiceover of renowned US hard-rocker, Gary Sunshine, a long-time musical collaborator of Steph’s.

The second piano track, ‘Let it All Go‘, follows Steph’s journey with the debilitating condition misophonia. Post-therapy for this disorder last year, Steph wrote this song about going through something very challenging, and coming out the other side. Writing this song was part of her healing process, and it was also written with the hope that it might help others with the condition, in their journey.
Rounding out the EP is ‘Well Worn Teeth‘, one of the tracks her younger self wouldn’t have had the courage to write, let alone record and release. Steph’s usual mezzo-soprano voice dives to its lowest register to tell this raw story, interwoven with the metaphor of the ocean. Lyrics of unfiltered emotion blend with surging, overdriven guitar, culminating in a full-band, wall-of-sound outro. The track also features the whisky-and-cigarettes vocals of Kapiti bluesman Steve ”Dog” Hall.

Listen to Steph Casey’s 10,000 Hail Mary’s EP here.

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