Evergreen - Evergreen

by Mark Rowland

published: 18 / 2 / 2004

Label: Temporary Residence
Format: CD

intro

First-rate and timely release of Evergreen's long lost and one and only album from 1996, which featured Britt Walford of Slint on drums

Evergreen's one and only full length album is one of the great lost records of the 90's. On its release in 1996, the only people that really knew about it were real Slint fanatics, basically because Slint drummer Britt Walford was a member of the band. The album sold a bit, but not well enough, and both album and band faded into obscurity. It's a real shame, because it really is a great album. Luckily, in the light of the popularity of the DFA amongst high profile New York post-punks, record company Temporary Residence has decided to re-release the James Murphy (of the DFA) recorded 'Evergreen' complete with two extra tracks, giving everyone a chance to find out how great they were. Evergreen's sound is very much their own, a post-punk sound that at times sounds like Fugazi playing Garage rock. The first eleven tracks are brilliantly diverse punk songs, not too samey but not too different. Tracks like 'Petting the Beast' and the sublime 'Whip Cream Bottle' are fast paced, aggressive numbers, while 'Solar Song' and 'Glass Highway' come in subtly, using harmonics exquisitely. The latter also has possibly some of the catchiest Yeah yeah yeah yeahs ever recorded in the history of rock music. It's quirky instrumental '˜New York City' that really hints at the kind of direction that the DFA would go into in the subsequent years, with post-punk guitars and rhythms surrounded by electronic beeps and swirls. The two previously unreleased tracks- 'Pants Off' and 'The Queen Song' show the two very different sides of the band. The former is a straight ahead blues punk song reminiscent of bands like the Immortal Lee County Killers, while the latter is a mid-tempo, Fall-esque number, with choppy quiet/ loud bits and slightly eccentric sounding, yelled vocals. This is a great way to get into this lost band, and any fans of punk, especially Garage rock, post-punk and Fugazi fans, will get a lot out of this record. Here's hoping they reform and make a new one.

Track Listing:-

1 Fairlane
2 Petting The Beast
3 Solar Song
4 Whip Cream Bottle
5 Plastic Bag
6 Klark Kent
7 Sweet Jane
8 Glass Highway
9 Zoom Zoom
10 New York City
11 Coyote
12 Pants Off
13 The Queen Song

Label Links:-

http://temporaryresidence.com/
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https://www.youtube.com/user/temporaryresidence
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