Artist Spotlight: Behind Evolfo’s “Of Love”
feature written by Beau Croxton
Evolfo by Nicole Miller
Evolfo’s new LP Of Love is an ever-shifting daydream that weaves between immersive psychedelia and grand moments of pure electricity.
Brooklyn’s Evolfo are on the brink of releasing their great new LP Of Love– it drops this Friday April 24th, and it should equally excite many different sectors of psych-rock fans.
Of Love was built upon many hours of experimentation and group improvisation, and it finds the group using the studio as its own instrument. Here, Evolfo operates as one large psychedelic entity that ebbs and flows between the casual hangs of psychedelic jams and more charged moments that recall their earlier fuzzed-out garage rock. Most importantly, it all flows beautifully. The record’s structure is marked by two floaty bookend tracks led by keyboardist Rafferty Swink titled “Am I the Butterfly” and “Wandering Wondering”.
“Am I The Butterfly” opens as an introspective meditation on personal evolution. Keyboardist and vocalist Rafferty Swink ponders “Am I the Butterfly, or is the Butterfly me?” while surrounded by additional trippy layers of vocals from the band's other primary songwriters— Matt Gibbs and Benji Adams. It's a hazy cut that sets the psychedelic nature and thematic tone of the record while exploring a moody eastern-sounding jam. This track and many others are like brief, lucid daydreams between larger and louder moments.
The process of “Am I the Butterrfly?” helped the band conceptualize the approach to the entire record. Rafferty added “Rest your Head on the Stone” was one of the first ones we did, and with “Am I The Butterfly?”, that was kinda the first moment that the record came into focus a little bit. I cracked that one open late one night and ended up writing the song and doing a bunch of weird overdubs.”
Evolfo by Kenneth Bachor
Regarding the influence of the record, Matt Gibbs added “I want to say that reading that book about Can (the band) had a big influence— because at least speaking for myself, it genuinely inspired me with the home studio concept, and building our studio and space to where we could have time and take an unconventional approach.”
Consequently, Of Love’s overall influence felt far less singular, and more about the approach and channeling “spirit”. Rafferty added “The new protocol for developing these songs is so different– I think the new inspiration lies in using the studio and the band to the fullest of its potential as an organism. Teo Marceo, Can, Miles Davis, Hendrix and all these other people have used and developed those studio techniques, and we're kind of trying to add our own interpretation of that in this era.”
Rafferty and Gibbs both agree their influence on the record is more “about the spirit of the music, not necessarily deriving specific sounds.” Gibbs added “I think we're trying to do psychedelic in a less expected way or something...”
Evolfo by Fran Adamski
Evolfo has been releasing excellent singles from the LP in its lead up (see above)— but “Adrian” is a brilliant centerpiece that might be the brightest pearl on the whole record. It oozes with a showstopping Laurel Canyon-like aura, and carries a booming psych-folk spirit of the late sixties and early seventies. It’s also quite cinematic– it would serve as a perfect soundtrack to a horseback riding scene, as the sun sets on the horizon of the Grand Canyon.
Around 4:04 into the track,the drums shift brilliantly and naturally into a double time tempo that brings the song into a whirling psychedelic jam. That jam goes absolutely sky high, full of fuzzy triumphant riffs, vocal delay and a dizzying spiral of angular guitar leads– it's one of the most perfect thrilling moments on the record.
As elaborate as the track sounds, it actually unfolded in the studio in real time just as you hear it. Regarding the conception of the track, keyboardist/vocalist Rafferty said “We had a session booked for Evolfo to record with our friend Joel Stones– it was just for fun to see what happened. The dates ended up being kind of messed up and only three of us showed up to the studio– it was just me, Matt and Dave (our drummer). I had already set everything up for the full band and Joel to be there and it didn't work out. Instead, I just played bass, Matt played guitar and Dave was on drums and we recorded three jams that ended up all being really cool. We ended up writing on top of them. “Adrian” pretty much was improvised as it exists– that song was not edited or changed structurally at all.”
On the lyrics of the track– Matt Gibbs said he made room for a very personal moment, but he left it more ambiguous and slightly open for interpretation. Despite all its ambiguity and happenstance, it's a dazzling centerpiece that sounds beautifully calculated, and its mystery only makes it more intriguing. It's a stunner that explodes in the second half just as much as its glistens in the first.
Evolfo by Nicole Miller
“Silver Dog” is another major highlight that leads with a badass distorted vocal from Matt Gibbs– it carries a Captain Beefheart-esque stomp that feels right out of Safe As Milk. Gibbs added he was able to get out a lot of “righteous goofy rage” on this cut, and the song started as a home project before being welcomed into the studio by the band. Its power lies in raw and direct swagger.
“Detach” found a different and more chiseled process than some of the casual and jammy psychedelia on the record. Matt Gibbs adds, “That song related to an approach we thought we might take more when we first started, which was that we would listen back to our free jams and pick out great moments, and then use them as inspiration to go in and record. We'd refine them, and then go record them.”
By deciding to refine one part of a jam, it resulted in a very excellently driven and straight forward rock n’ roll tune. While the record doesn't channel the approach too much elsewhere, it makes for some great variety and an excitingly energetic standout– it's a pumped up psych-rock banger that will absolutely kill in concert.
Speaking of which– Evolfo has a West Coast tour underway for the release of the record. For their NYC fans, they have a record release show at TV EYE in Ridgewood planned for May (see all details below)
Don't miss it, and make sure you tune in and tune out to Of Love this Friday.
Evolfo’s new album Of Love is out everywhere this Friday April 24th.
Get tickets for their TV EYE show on May 7th here.
You can check out Evolfo’s West Coast tour dates and get vinyl on bandcamp here.
And listen on Spotify below !