Evangeline

You just never know when or where you're going to stumble upon a great piece of work. You know? Guadalcanal Diary singer Murray Attaway's solo album In Thrall has been one of my top 10 albums for almost a decade, and I found it at the bottom of a dollar bin at Walmart at 3 a.m. Proof positive that in all darkness there is a little light.

Evangeline's "We're Alright Down Here" is like that. Simply put, it's a local release that could easily stand toe to toe with almost any million-dollar album being forced down our throats today. Stylistically, the album is reminiscent of Tori Amos's covers album Strange Little Girls, her piano and voice replaced with frontman Jonathan Barrick's melancholy guitar and vocals.

It's a much folkier and softer opus than the band's live show would have you believe, but that's not to say that its impact is any less powerful. The simple, sad determination of the title track will, in fact, infect your head, and you just might end up like me, drinking from the bottle in the Kroger parking lot on your way home from the concert.

Not to belabor the Tori Amos comparison, but the low key chorus vocals from guest star and Nashville indie artist Madi Diaz on "We're Alright Down Here", make the song almost too much to bear, much like Trent Reznor's backing vocal work on Tori's "Past the Mission" make something extraordinary extra-extraordinary. She returns later in the album for a soul-stirring duet on "Amy," which is also of wicked virtue.

There is not one single track on this CD worth skipping, although there are many worth skipping to. Evangeline divides its time between Houston and Denver, so opportunities to catch the act live can be few and far between. I encourage everyone with open ear canals, though, to go to the band's MySpace and a) buy We're Alright Down Here; and b) keep an eye out for a chance to see them slightly elevated in front of you. In the end, you'll thank me. - Jef With One F - Houston Press

7/19/08
by Rachel Holmes

The moving lyrics of Evangeline’s self-title track on their debut album, We’re Alright Down Here, sums up the entire message of the album: we haven’t been left alone, and though the road may be a difficult one to journey along, we have hope as we walk along.

“By the time you read this, I’ll be headed far away / Past the redwoods and the sea / I will write you soon / When you wake by morning / Where my head used to lay / Silence sings / Itself a symphony / I’ll be back for you/Evangeline, don’t be discouraged or afraid / For I am with you though I seem so far away.”

Evangeline says they hope to accomplish conveying life’s struggles and challenges in relationships, pain, death, life, and faith through their music. “Evangeline” is a perfect example, along with their tracks “We’re Alright Down Here,” “All I Am,” and “Amy,” of the band doing just that. You can pull any song off the album and find one whose lyrics are unique and pleasing to the ear. They are beautifully poetic in form and sound—which is apt for a band whose name is the same as the title of the famous poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Longfellow’s poem speaks of two lovers separated for a time and the struggles that ensue from separation. The name Evangeline means “bearer of good news.” Evangeline’s music speaks to both of these references; the message of their music is that everyday life has struggles, but hope is present as well.

There is the case of a mistaken identity on the band’s part that I hope is addressed in the near future. The band’s website claims that they inhabit the southern rock genre, but it is far from that sound; their music is closer to that of acoustic rock or folk rock. The southern rock genre—which The Charlie Daniels Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd made popular and Kid Rock and Big and Rich are dominating—is the basis for most country music. While Evangeline follows southern gospel and southern rock trends of utilizing the guitar and piano, as well as using their vocals as an additional instrument, they maintain a distinct sound that you would hear in a coffeehouse or lounge in the northern part of the nation, such as Seattle, New York, or Chicago. Their current sound actually works in Evangeline’s favor, since it provides them with a much broader, commercial sound that will appeal to a larger audience, and I hope that they do not try to assimilate themselves closer to the southern rock genre.

While the first song on We’re Alright Down Here, “Rain,” opens the album up strong with an up tempo beat, for the most part, no other songs on the album rock it out like “Rain.” What makes Evangeline’s music unique is that it utilizes melodies that rely on melancholy sounds that are undercut by uplifting beats, further playing on the theme of hope through struggle. The fact that Evangeline’s music doesn’t play with up tempo rock tendencies is a positive. If their songs did not play their way down the road of reflection, it would not accomplish quite as much as it does. It is the way the lyrics intertwine with the songs’ melodies that makes Evangeline’s We’re Alright Down Here one worth buying.

We’re Alright Down Here is meant to work so that in the moments of reflection and contemplation, the listener begins to identify with and internalize this new perspective: the journey is long and, at times, difficult, but, “We’re holding our heads high / We wipe away the tears / To say we’re alright down here.” - Soul-Audio.com