Evan Williams released debut album The View from Halfway Down earlier this month. The album was recorded over three sessions at The Albion Rooms in Margate and produced by Jason Stafford (The Libertines, Peter Doherty, PREGOBLIN, Trampolene).
For the album, Evan Williams has embraced the power of his own narrative and over the course of 10 songs explores themes of love, loss, self-loathing and addiction. It’s a highly compelling and mature collection from a talent who belies his years. Evan is merely 23-years-of-age.
In his own words: “The View From Halfway Down is a coming of age record. It’s a documentation of my stumbling first steps into adulthood and ponderings on the future. It’s about how it feels to try and make a life for yourself in a crumbling industry and an increasingly uncertain future.”
It’s a somewhat sombre record in terms of its narrative, but I’m a huge Smiths fan so that didn’t faze me. I enjoyed the poeticness of the lyrics and the clear storytelling on each track. There’s something that’s delightfully a little rough around the edges to the album, like it feels as if you’re sat in your local pub listening to Evan sing it live on a Sunday afternoon.
Throughout the album, I really like what Evan has done with his pacing and phrasing which at times almost feels in conflict with the music. It makes you step up and really listen to what’s being said. Ride On is a great example of this. The track itself is upbeat and western inspired but delivered over the top of this are Evan’s drawn out, lazy vocals. Kindred Sin is another. After the first couple of bars I thought I had the measure of the song and where it was going, but as it progresses, Evan’s experimentation with the pace of the delivery and the volume kept me guessing and I found this both unique and engaging. That being said, there’s still enough catchy choruses and one-liners in this album that mean you can give it a good sing along at one of Evan’s many upcoming live dates.
Evan is a proud champion of the alternative and you can definitely sense that in this record and the way that it doesn’t quite follow along the path laid out before it. What it does is showcase the incredible talent of a young singer/songwriter with strong future ahead of him.
You can listen to the album or order it here.
You can also check out Evan William’s new video for album track For Anyone here.
Evan Williams Touring Info
Evan has the following upcoming tour dates. He will also be playing the Strap Originals takeover at The Great Escape in Brighton on May 14th.
April
17 Letchworth – David’s
18 London – Dash the Henge
20 Glasgow – Assai
20 Edinburgh – Assai
21 Newcastle – Reflex
22 Bristol – Exchange
29 Kingston – Banquet (matinee show)
29 Chelmsford – Hot Box