so usually I try to shy away from doing cheesy record reviews but seeing as that its rare that both me and Jim are awaiting a record so much, that we go out and buy it the day before its officially released, I figured the evens record deserved a geekpunk record review. Jim feel free to either edit this post to add your review or just add a comment w/ your thoughts.

So me and Jim and Jen saw the evens almost a year ago at the mission media space, and were generally blown away. The evens were also Holden’s first fort reno show, so we were kind of excited to see this cd waiting for us at sound garden (by the way this wasn’t sitting in the new record section but instead in the generic fugazi/minorthreat/rightesofspring/embrace section… some one do something about that). The evens can be best described as stripped down folk/antifolk inspired lofi dc punk. The 2 piece consists of Ian and Amy… who were in a bunch of great bands including fugazi & the warmers (who in my mind next to 3 are one of the great underrated gems on dischord). You definitely get the feel of their previous efforts, especially the fugazi guitar rhythms and rawness of the warmers, but its dramatically different. The whole album puts on a chill almost restrained vibe. Live this feeling kind of was on the floor, pushed down by the power of their playing, but the restraint comes through in full force on this recording, which put me off at first. I was really kind of hopping for the power and energy of their live show, but the eerie unsettling vibe mixed w/ the dc groove punk has won my feelings over with every listen.

The guitar sound is simple and raw, no distortion aside from what happens naturally due to volume. Taking its tone allot from the baritone guitar, sounding a bit at times like the ambient tones you would hear on the instrument soundtrack. The drums are clean and crisp, with just enough effects to fill everything out. I think what stands out the most are the vocals. They do allot of almost beach boys pet sounds type harmonies, but from the punk rock aesthetic , sometimes they are a key off… and it sounds even more powerful and earnest that way. No patented Ian screaming, but instead picking up where the fugazi song “I’m so tired” left off. Some of the funnest sections of the album come from the in-between quips like Ian or Amy saying “come on” or “get busy” as if in excitement they say it far from the mic, sounding kind of like old jazz records where one player is trying to encourage one another.

In short I recommend this cd/lp highly. In a time when I’m hearing more and more rehashed same old, just like before. This shows that one can embrace (pardon the pun ) their ideals and culture and adapt it to new ideas / life.