MIKE EVIN
Piano pop tunesmith Mike Evin hollers out to his bandmates, leads call-and-response singalongs and handclaps, and interjects lively comments all over his new album, Good Watermelon, and with good reason: Everything you hear on the album – from the lowliest wood block to the most sophisticated string section – was recorded and mixed live onto two-track analog tape. Everyone in the studio was clapping, shouting, singing (and dancing) together in one room, and on the likes of “Great Pop Song,” “We Should Dance” and “Rockin’ Receptionist,” you can really tell.
The live-to-tape recording style suits Evin well, since he’s as captivating a live performer as you’ll see, using his charm, energy, sheer talent and good cheer to unfailingly grab hold of any and every audience. Up until now, you’d have to have seen Evin play at a bar, a folk fest or a barbeque to get a true sense of what he’s about; but with Good Watermelon, Evin faithfully captures that “live” spirit and puts you right there in the room.
Evin is a pop eccentric and a true original, in the vein of a Jonathan Richman or a Harry Nilsson. He bears something of the former’s earnest, wide-eyed innocence, as songs like “Good Watermelon” and “Rockin’ Receptionist” will attest; but he also encompasses something of the latter’s pop smarts and melodic sensibilities, as per examples like “Great Pop Song” and “Me and My Love.” If you were to draw a line connecting the great piano-pop singer-songwriters through the years, moving from Randy Newman to Billy Joel to Ben Folds, the next name on that list might well be Evin’s.
Good Watermelon is his most mature, personal recording yet, an eclectic blend of memorable songs that celebrate life. Some of the softer ones find Evin’s heart vulnerably (and bravely) planted on his sleeve, like the fond memories of “Sweet Family Outings,” the dulcet lullabye of “Goodnight Crickets,” the casual travelogue of “Me and My Love” and the gorgeous ode to our common humanity that is “This Soul.” The louder, faster songs find him rejoicing in the sheer fun of tripping the light fantastic (“We Should Dance”), paying tribute to an especially skillful secretary (“Rockin’ Receptionist”), or checking out the collection of items on his “Piano Top.” Then there’s his unique, minimalist doo-wop hommage to “Good Watermelon,” and the “Great Pop Song” that he found so inspiring, he had to write his own song about it. Evin sings, “It’s exciting when you first hear a song that can stay with you for life,” and he could just as easily be talking about any of the songs on Good Watermelon.
Although he’s variously made his home in New York City, Toronto, and Halifax, Evin returned to his birthplace and original hometown of Montreal in April 2008 to capture Good Watermelon, his fourth recording. Evin enlisted a gang of players/friends – including Montreal collective Ideal Lovers (Zac Decamp, David Payant, Mike O’Brien and Joe Grass), Andy Creeggan (former Barenaked Ladies), Emma Baxter (Orillia Opry), and Angela Desveaux – to be his backup band, while Andrea Dawes arranged a string section and Paul Forgues mixed and engineered the recording.
Evin’s previous three recordings are The January Muse (2001)); his indie breakthrough album I’ll Bring the Stereo (2005); and a five-song EP of domestic love songs, Let’s Slow It Down (2007). Evin has recorded with Jim and Andy Creeggan (current and former Barenaked Ladies), Toronto guitar legend Kurt Swinghammer, Ron Sexsmith’s touring band (Don Kerr, Jason Mercer and Tim Bovaconti) and has shared stages with Sexsmith, Amy Millan, Sarah Harmer, Jill Barber and Martha Wainwright. He’s been played often on campus and community radio and has played live on the CBC radio shows FUSE and Routes Montreal. He has toured extensively in central and Eastern Canada, and has been warmly received in Nashville. His song “Soapbox Racer” was featured in a Red Bull ad campaign in 2008, and this year he’ll be one of the featured acts on the third edition of Barenaked Ladies’ “Ships and Dip” cruise, along with Sloan, The Weakerthans and Great Big Sea.
As Canuck exile and fellow piano popster Dan Bryk puts it: “Mike possesses phenomenal hooks and truly awesome stride-y piano chops – that is, when he’s not finger-snapping and hand-clapping the audience into some otherworldly bliss.”
ALBUMS
Mike Evin |
