Echo Bloom is the project of founder Kyle Evans. Like David Bowie, Lou Reed and Nick Cave, Evans found his muse in the streets of Berlin, secluding himself in an apartment for months to focus completely on composing and recording. (Side note: Evans even looks a bit like Bowie.) He’s released three collections from this time, then relocated to Brooklyn to continue working on albums and songs. His three most recent singles are “Hold On Tight To Me,” “Superfortress” and “3 Little Birds.”
Evans’ influences are diverse enough to include both 1960’s surf rock and the musicals of Rodgers and Hammerstein. Evans performs solo as well as with a full six-piece band, and is looking forward to a 28-date European tour starting in September. Evans describes “Hold On Tight To Me” as a song about his good friend Steve and his wife sledding in Germany. There’s an amusing video that Evans “hacked together” from a classic 1950’s instructional video about marriage. Musically it’s alternative rock, starting with a fuzzy riff worthy of Bob Mould. Now that I’ve heard a few of his songs I can say that Evans has an instantly recognizable, idiosyncratic singing voice that doesn’t really sound like anyone else. It’s the kind of voice that always feels like it’s straining a bit, which works great for rock! The guitar arrangement gets thicker and more jangly as the song moves forward, with the power of the track surging bit by bit toward the ending. If Evans is playing everything he did quite an impressive job, but his voice and the guitars are without doubt the stars here. On “Superfortress” the arrangement is more stark, with Evans getting real, gritty power from his guitar, bass and drums, while claiming even more sonic space for his compelling voice. The structure is not terribly unique but Evans’ guitar-based choruses literally rise up to embrace his increasingly dramatic vocals. Honestly I’m not sure what he’s singing about but with lines like “I will replace my blood with benzedrine in cups of coffee” he’s certainly not messing around. Maybe my favorite of the three! The final track “3 Little Birds” is a song from a previous Evans album titled Wake. Right away it feels different, with clanky percussion and muted guitar strings worthy of Tom Waits in his experimental mode. Evans’ vocal is his lowest yet, barely above a conversational tone but nicely overdubbed with himself. The scratchy guitar interjections are thrilling just like in Wilco’s “Spiders (kidsmoke).” The track has a simple structure but the repetition adds to the hypnotic effect while all the cool sounds and added vocals (an uncredited female singer?) keep things intriguing. I change my vote: this track now rivals “Superfortress” as the best of the three! Exploring these tracks, I discovered that Evans has a very large discography just waiting to be heard. He’s an artist worth exploring. Highly recommended!
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