Evans The Death // Evans The Death
"The combination of the hazy instrumentation over the poppy rhythms is great, and with Katherine Whitaker’s intriguing vocals topping it off they’ve certainly found their place..."
Evans The Death – (Fortuna POP!)
It’d be incredibly harsh to call Evans The Death’s eponymous record a complete throwaway, but it’d also be more than it deserves to call it a capital hit. The combination of the hazy instrumentation over the poppy rhythms is great, and with Katherine Whitaker’s intriguing vocals topping it off they’ve certainly found their place, even if it’s a place they share with numerous other bands. However, the largest discernible differences between Evans The Death and those ‘other bands’ are the lyrics; whilst many of their antecedents certainly had a similar sound, their songwriting was often imbued with an overriding sincerity that escapes ETD. Morrissey used Johnny Marr’s jangly guitar as the perfect counterpoise to his oft devastatingly personal lyricism, unfortunately for ETD ‘Morning Voice’ never reaches the heights of ‘Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want’. Indeed, apart from fleeting moments like the refrain in ‘I’m So Unclean’ and the album’s closer ‘You’re Joking’, the record rarely achieves the level of candour it deserves. That’s not to say it’s a bad debut; the music is generally appealing, the melodic hook in ‘What’s In Your Pocket’ is almost perfect, and despite what was said before the lyrics are very relatable. Ultimately, whilst the sun is still shining and the youth are still hankering for new music to be the soundtrack to their summers, it’ll get plenty of air-time, it’s just not going to win any awards any time soon. Probably one of the safest 7/10’s this year.
7/10
Alex Throssell
