A tip of the cap to the musical sommelier at Double Door in Chicago for the inspired pairing of Movement - who were stopping by midway through their tour with Banks - with Chicago native Evan Ireland. Like the Australian trio, he blends electronic instrumentation with a take on soul and R&B, but where the former are primarily concerned with dissolving your clothes through sheer willful sensuality, Evan’s fidgety beats are on a mission to make you move your feet. “I want people to dance. I want people to dance for real,” he writes.
That’s not always been the case. At age twenty, you could be forgiven for not expecting this artist to have traversed much of a musical arc, but he has. With two self-released albums under his belt, it’s already possible to see a progression of his musical interests and motivations. His first album, Ten Songs About The Last Six Months, came about as a means of coping with a family illness, providing both a means of journalling the experience, and a vehicle for catharsis. This seems to be an ongoing trend too: he writes when he feels he needs to, rather than merely for the sake of writing. However, where his debut focused in on the experience of a very specific event, his second album, Kept, has a broader scope: “every part of the human experience” – at least, as experienced by Evan Ireland. It finds him caught on the edge of adulthood, having set himself on a path but not yet proceeded very far down it.
There’s an underlying hint of aggression to the skittish beats, most noticeably on the excellent opener “Councils” and “Nancy Knows The Truth”, that speaks of someone frustrated by their current situation and anxious to move forward. That’s contrasted with a very direct delivery on the vocal-led tracks: his voice stands up very well when stripped of the studio magic found on the albums, and tracks like “We Were Telling Jokes While You Fell Asleep” open right up. He’s fragile and honest and it’s impossible not to get swept up in the moment.
Whilst both of his albums to date were released before Caribou’s Our Love, parallels can certainly be drawn. There’s the same ease of moving between vocal-lead and beat-lead arrangements, and confidence when mixing live and sampled instrumentation.
The next step is a new album and a new live show including a full band. The album is already in the works, although Evan is holding out for a label-backed release. Having heard some of the new material at Double Door, all I can say is: labels, get him signed. The less time I have to wait for more the better. As impressive as the solo show was, I can only assume that one with live backing would be even more worth your checking out, so if you do get a chance to catch him then take it.
In the meantime, both Ten Songs About The Last Six Months and Kept are available on Bandcamp for however much you’re willing to pay. Do the right thing when you check them out; you won’t be disappointed.
