Evan Jordan - Bad Touch

​​Evan Jordan

Bad Touch
​self-released; 2022

3.6 out of 5

By Jamie Funk
​

Evan Jordan is an artist and musician from Kalamazoo, MI who recently released Bad Touch. Jordan mentions “The making of Bad Touch was at all times about melding experimental with infectious, polished with flawed, old with new, kitsch with class, etc. - those tasty dichotomies. It’s also about unapologetically believing in auteurism as a virtue, while acknowledging it to be a notorious stumbling block as well.”

The artist starts with “Virgil” which is an instrumental song. One of the first things I noticed is all the instrumentation sounds like virtual instruments which creates a very specific aesthetic. The song's focus is on an arpeggiated synth, pads and percussion. There’s a distinct change about halfway through which does feel more organic and live. It’s a reggae sounding sort of beat with lead guitar. The sections really didn’t sound all that connected but somehow it works.

“Anytown” introduces the vocals. The vocals are delivered softly. I was getting Ariel Pink vibes. Reverb tails wash over from guitars panned hard left and right. There’s also some organ in the mix. 

“Ms. Manners” goes back into instrumental. The song has this innocent and cuddly feeling. It is almost like a funky song for kids. There are some solid transitions and I liked the one a little before the two-and-a-half-minute mark.

“Mopin'” has a forward moving kinetic quality that seems to be created with guitar. Other elements sort of swirl around for most of the song. It’s like that one guitar note is the anchor in the song and everything else is reacting to that.

“Parlour Games” is sort of a darker electric piano lead song that feels theatrical. The tone of the song is hard to pinpoint. There’s a serious sort of feeling to it that can be ominous yet sort of playful. “Molar Dust” is a funky off-kilter beat. There are clean guitars; some elements feel very soft which lets the guitars breathe. I loved the melodies towards the end which might be played on lead guitar.

​There are some unique ideas here. Jordan has an unusual approach to structure and songwriting which made some of the songs feel novel. I would have loved to hear a live drummer on some of these songs but all things considered I think there’s a lot to appreciate here.

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