By this third record, Hannah Georgas had already established a name for herself in the Canadian indie music scene. On For Evelyn<\/i>, Georgas is not just an \u201cindie pop singer,\u201d she is a \u201cseasoned artist\u201d; after all, she\u2019d been at this game for seven years, since her debut EP. She is wiser, introspective, and content, without ceasing to be hungry.<\/p>\n
You know an indie pop artist is comfortable in their own skin when they start off an album with just bare horns, like Georgas does on the opening track \u201cRideback,\u201d as if she is kicking off a swing jazz record. Then she sings in a whispery voice\u2014asking existential questions\u2014with childlike mischief, and you know she is shooting for something more profound than just run-of-the-mill indie pop.<\/p>\n
Musically, For Evelyn<\/i> consists of slow to mid-tempo numbers, while lyrically, it carries the weight of the world on its shoulders: \u201cI wish you didn\u2019t take on everybody\u2019s pain, \u2019cos I know you every night you\u2019re saying prayers\u201d (\u201cDon\u2019t Go\u201d); \u201cIt\u2019s too easy to walk away, it\u2019s so easy when you have a high tolerance for pain, when I build these walls, I build them so high\u201d (\u201cWalls\u201d); \u201cI\u2019m trying so hard to make a new start, but when I wake up I don\u2019t get very far\u201d (\u201cLost Cause\u201d).<\/p>\n
The music helps carry this weight with feather-like effortlessness, sounding gracefully poignant without seeming fraught, for it has an airy lushness, which is backed by immaculate production. Even the two slowest tracks \u201cAngel All The Time\u201d and \u201cCity,\u201d as well as the gloomy ballad \u201cWalls,\u201d which are grey with despondency, have a cinematic lushness that\u2019s more beautiful than sad.<\/p>\n
Georgas treats the lighter moments of For Evelyn<\/i> with the same gravity as the heavier ones: with enthusiasm that\u2019s tinted with restraint. \u201cWaste\u201d with its distinctly Eighties new wave funk sound, where saxophones meet pulsating synths in a combination that is as garish and upbeat as Eighties workout videos, is undeniably catchy, even though it is as unflashy as an avant-garde number. \u201cEvelyn\u201d doesn\u2019t give in to its bubbling dance-pop ebullience, but still sounds soaring and energetic in a way that doesn\u2019t show off.<\/p>\n
This understated enthusiasm gives a sense of calm elegance that is confident without feeling the need to project it. So, coming back to the opening track \u201cRideback,\u201d when Georgas sings \u201cI wake up in the middle of the night thinking oh my God who the hell am I?\u201d she most certainly couldn\u2019t be surer about herself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":35477,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[11182],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-47373","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-hannah-georgas","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/47373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/47373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=47373"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=47373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}