Evan Khay
Nashville, Tennessee, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2014 | SELF
Music
Press
With “Retrograde”, multi-instrumentalist Evan Khay has partnered with Imua Garza to create what is one of the most impressive non-Hawaiian debut albums by a Hawaii resident in recent memory.
Although every cut is a well-crafter original, the album is more than a collection of memorable songs. Khay and Garza used the fixed order of presentation that a hard-copy, “physical” album can provide to tell a story. Several tracks reveal that Khay is confronting his own experiences.
The most striking thing about the album is the first track, a spoken-word piece titled “The End (Intro)” in which Khay tells the listener that the story is over. The final track on the CD is “The Beginning (Outro) where Khay welcomes the audience to the story that he is about to tell. Does this mean that the songs are telling a story in reverse order? Khay and Garza don’t say.
Two “interlude” tracks add more opaqueness to the project. Multiple voices talk over each other in “Thoughts (Interlude).” A single voice is heard apparently giving Khay advice on how to live a positive and honorable life on “Dearest (Interlude).”
The musical content of the other tracks should sell Khay to national audiences. Several are melancholy urban/pop slow jams that sound like a lot of national hits but not like any one hit in particular. In other words, Khay and Garza have their creative fingers on the pulse of what’s hitting nationally but are assembling proven ideas in their own way.
As a vocalist Khay delivers each song with 100 percent emotional commitment – intense and passionate or smooth and subtle, whichever fits.
His lyrics should be published as poetry. One song describes a relationship within which the woman in his life has her running shoes on and is running in endless circles while he waits patiently for her to stop. With another one he asks, “How does tomorrow look from the other side of freedom? How does joy feel from the other side of love?”
Song lyrics aren’t included in the liner notes, but “Save You” appears to be about a guy telling the woman who mistreated him that the next time she decides she needs him, “I won’t be there to save you.” Payback can be so sweet!
Visit evankhay.com. - John Berger, Honolulu-Star Advertiser
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) -
Honolulu-born singer-songwriter, Evan Khay, is set to release his debut album Retrograde on Tuesday, August 8, 2017. Khay commemorates the release of his album release with a headline concert “Evan Khay & the Retrograde Band” at Crossroads HI on Saturday, August 19, 2017. Tickets for “Evan Khay & the Retrograde Band” are available now at www.evankhay.com/retroshow.
The 21-year-old singer-songwriter channels his “old soul” in his debut album with musical influences like Elvis Presley, Bill Withers, and the Osmonds. “I’ve been influenced by so many different artists growing up, so we tried our best to showcase as many different genres as possible,” says Khay. “This album was a challenge for me to write and produce because I really wanted it to be genuine and unique. I tried to be creative as possible with this record. We decided to make this album conceptual and really tell a story that I think a lot of listeners will gravitate and relate to,” says Evan Khay. “This is really an open letter to the world about what I was really going through over the past few years.”
Khay sings about many of his personal hardships and experiences on Retrograde. From his brutal honesty about his actions in “Better When” and “Fantasize” to his open letters to family and friends in “Save You” and “Bring You Back”, Khay opens up about things that he admits he once kept quiet. “I start off the record by saying ‘it’ll probably be the most honest I’ll ever be in a long, long time’ and I really do mean it. I don’t think I’ve ever been as open with my music as I have in this record.” Evan credits his mother, whose voice is featured on his track “Dearest”, as his influence and motivation for pursuing his music.
Khay partners with producers and musicians Imua Garza of Zeo Music and Eston Ravey for his debut solo album. “Working with [Garza and Ravey] was an incredible experience for me. Especially with this being my first solo album, they made me feel incredibly comfortable and helped me build this record from the ground up.”
To read more about Evan Khay, Retrograde, or show dates, visit www.evankhay.com or contact evan@evankhay.com. - Hawaii News Now
Mikey Monis hangs out with singer and songwriter Evan Khay to find out where he goes to start his music process. - KHON2 News
Discography
"Retrograde" - Evan Khay (8 August 2017, Evan Khay)
"Come Back Home to Me" - Evan Khay & Keilana (30 November 2018, Evan Khay)
"In the Meantime: Live at WorkPlay" - Evan Khay (14 September 2019, Ayokhay)
Photos
Bio
After picking up his first instrument at the age of six, Evan Khay has been pursuing his passion for music ever since. Before the Honolulu-born singer-songwriter graduated from Kamehameha Schools – Kapalama in 2014, Evan became a multi-instrumentalist, producer, singer and songwriter. Soon after graduating high school, Evan began performing in various public and private venues across O‘ahu. Evan has since then performed throughout Hawai‘i and the Continental United States performing as a solo artist and supporting musician. Evan’s desire to blend various genres together has given him a unique sound that showcases his ambitions as an artist. Although Evan loves performing at local venues, Evan is most passionate about performing, writing, composing and recording his original music. In 2016, Evan began working on his debut album “Retrograde” with musicians and producers Imua Garza (‘Opihi Pickers, MOOSTR, Zeo Music) and Eston Ravey (IZIK, Kimié Miner, Kolohe Kai). The 22-year-old singer-songwriter channels his “old soul” in his debut album with musical influences like Elvis Presley, Bill Withers, and the Osmonds. “I’ve been influenced by so many different artists growing up, so we tried our best to showcase as many different genres as possible,” says Khay. Using both local and national talent, Khay created an artistic creation that tells a story deeper than what it may appear like at first glance. “This album was a challenge for me to write and produce because I really wanted it to be genuine and unique. I tried to be creative as possible with this record. We decided to make this album conceptual and really tell a story that I think a lot of listeners will gravitate and relate to,” says Khay. “This is really an open letter to the world about what I was really going through over the past few years.” Evan credits his mother, whose voice is heard on the interlude “Dearest”, as his main inspiration for pursuing this path of music. His debut full-length album, “Retrograde”, is available now.
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