I didn't know Gavin Clark before. Neither was I familiar with his old bands. I think I found this album from Rough Trade's albums of the month list. It was obviously number one of that month. I started listening to it on Spotify and I was immediately blown away. There was something really magical in the album's sounds. There's enough melancholy, angst and attitude on this album to realise that not all is well with its creator. This led me to read a bit more about the album in reviews and the sad story behind it made the album even more powerful. I went and bought the album on vinyl as soon as I had finished listening to it on Spotify.
The album kicks off with an amazingly haunting and melancholic song The World That I Created. The pianos and fast string instruments in the background are quite cool in themselves, but Clark's intensive vocals are what really make you nailed to the spot when you hear the song. It's one of those songs you just listen to very intently no matter what else is going on around you. The song leads directly to the song Spirit, which brings out the first rock sounds on the album. There are some psychedelic elements in the song and I'm a bit reminded of Richard Hawley's later albums, but there's even more power and emotion in this song. The vocals are muffled by electronic sounding buzz, but it doesn't hide the fact that this is someone singing their heart out. Same Hands goes even more aggressive in style. There's a steady beat of electric guitars, bass and drums and the bluesy vocals make me nod my head along. There are similarities to hard rock songs like those by Black Mountain. I'm in Love Tonight gives a bit more room for electronic sounds that are used moderately through the album. I like it when the electronic samples are just a spice in the music and not the main ingredient. The intensity of the vocals in this song is as strong as on any Leonard Cohen or Nick Cave album. No One Will Ever Know brings out amazingly raw buzzing overdriven guitars that really sound like they were played live right in front of you. In general, what I like about this album is that it doesn't sound like something that's only been created in studio. It sounds like the songs would sound live. Never Feel This Young has hypnotic and psychedelic echoey guitars and a menacing feel to it. The song grows beautifully by adding more and more layers of beautiful guitar sounds and even though the tempo stays low, you feel the song growing all the time. God Song continues the looping hypnotism around simple bass pounding and spoken word vocals that come close to a preacher in their intensity. The Believer (I'm Never Wrong) is a lo-fi folk rock song that probably has the lightest touch of any of the songs on the album. I Wanna Lift You Up brings about danceable beats and stunning pounding tempo. The raspy vocals are amazing. Whirlwind of Rubbish shows that Clark can also sing very beautifully and clearly when he wants to. The beautiful tone in his voice fills the room while the other instruments stand quiet, yet beautiful, in the background. The album ends with a very heavy song Holy Holy that sounds a bit like I think what it sounds like in someone's head who's about to go mad.
I was pleasantly surprised to find out that there's a music video from this album as well. The music video for Whirlwind of Rubbish shows beautiful and slow landscapes in black and white and every once in a while we see Clark singing the song in the studio. There's also some black smoke rising hypnotically over the rooftops of London in the video. The video kind of looks like the end of the world even though it's really beautiful. I guess it's a great metaphor for Clark's end of life.
This is one of those albums that are best enjoyed while listening intently cranking the volume up. It's not background music. It's so intense that it deserves all of your attention. Evangelist is one of the best albums of past few years.
Listen to the album on Spotify.
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