Steps from the Cliff
About:
Steps from the Cliff is a downtempo darkwave synth-pop music band formed in Santa Cruz, CA in 2023. The band consists of artist and composer Tim Knapp.
BIOGRAPHY:
Born during a tumultuous series of California weather events in January 2023, Steps from the Cliff emerged from the creative sanctuary of Tim Knapp's residence, nestled overlooking the iconic West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz. Inspired by the raw power and stark beauty of the storms, Knapp chose the band name to symbolize the precarious balance between the positive and negative forces in life, where standing "Steps from the Cliff" could evoke both peril and opportunity.
The band's music deliberately embraces a downward tempo and mood, inviting listeners into a space of introspection and contemplation. Each year, as inclement weather sweeps through, Steps from the Cliff embarks on a ritualistic process of writing and recording, channeling the atmospheric energy into the evocative soundscapes.
Since its inception, Steps from the Cliff has delivered a full length album, four EPs and three singles, each release echoing the emotional depths and ethereal beauty of the coastal surroundings. With a commitment to exploring the dualities of existence, the band continues to carve out a distinctive sonic niche, inviting audiences to journey alongside through the stormy seas of life.
Collaborations
Relatos de Terror
On August 1, 2025 Steps from the Cliff announced a new collaboration with the podcast Relatos de Terror author Edgar Aguilar. Steps from the Cliff will creating original music to help bring these haunting stories to life. Expect eerie textures, unsettling melodies, and a soundscape as chilling as the tales themselves.
Press
A&R Factory
November 6, 2025
Steps from the Cliff drew grandeur out of shadows and wove it into synth-pop with their latest single, SUSURROS. Released from the creative sanctum of Tim Knapp’s storm-swept Santa Cruz residence, the instrumental score unravels with the haunted elegance of an artist whose compositions go straight for the psyche’s jugular.
Grandeur isn’t often something that’s closely related with synth pop, but after Steps from the Cliff released SUSURROS, that’s all set to change. With an intro which almost feels as though Carpenter’s Halloween theme has moved into a sphere of spectrally macabre disquietness, the score unfolds and reveals Steps from the Cliff as a composer who knows exactly how to go for your psyche’s jugular. The dark, quasi-carnivalesque instrumental piece becomes the ultimate soundtrack of the kind of terror that leaves you uneasy while sating even the most ravenous desire for artistic poise.
Since forming in 2023, Tim Knapp has taken a ritualistic approach to composition, crafting his soundscapes during Californian storms, channelling the unease and awe of nature into chilling cinematic downtempo releases. With one album, four EPs, and multiple singles under his belt, he’s fast cementing his place in the darker recesses of synth-pop and darkwave. From his vantage point above West Cliff Drive, he continues to write the soundtrack to the metaphorical cliffs we all stand before.
Press
A&R Factory
March 10, 2024
In one of their most daring releases to date, Steps From the Cliff modernised Magazine’s 1978 single, The Light Pours Out of Me, bringing the seminal release in line with the trends in the darkwave synthpop domain while amplifying the broodingly dark energy of the post-punk staple.
It was a bold move to rework the original, given all of the scintillation that pours from the atmospherically ensnaring production, but the Santa Cruz-hailing outfit, fronted by Tim Knapp, succeeded in putting their own mark on the single. The sombre reflections within the harbingering downtempo lament become all the more affecting through the contrast of the shimmer of the crystalline melodies carved by the glassy synths and the whispered snarls which carry the lyricism with maximum conviction.
The Light Pours Out of Me features on Steps From the Cliff’s most recent EP, Knowhere Fast, which reached the airwaves on January 26.
Stream The Light Pours Out of Me on all major platforms via this link.
Streaming map
Over 20,000 plays in the US
Press photos and logos
Tim Knapp
Sticker Art
Album Cover - Siete Puertas
Album Cover - Knowhere Fast