Evan
Chambers – Lightning Eyes (Independent)
Virginia-based Evan Chambers earned his musical spurs
drumming and singing in a number of groups before a stint working with
acclaimed Nashville singer-songwriter Joseph Aaron, including the production of
Aaron’s 2012 self-titled EP. All that experience has paid off in a variety of
interesting ways. Chambers is an assured songwriter with a firm grasp of
arrangements, and the production on his debut album release “Lightning Eyes” is
beautifully sure-footed.
He’s also fearless when it comes to covering other
people’s song - big songs, too. His take on Elvis’ “Burning Love” is a
revelation. The song’s glammy rock and foot stomping pomp presentation is
stripped back and then slowed to reveal a song steeped in soul and gospel - the
elegiac piano adding weighty ambience. Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” is
just as affecting. Again the pace is measured and deliberate, and Chambers
inserts a resigned sadness into the proceedings, which is then augmented by
various mournful strings.
While the covers provide instant reference points,
and offer clues to Chambers’ influences, it’s his own songs that satisfy the
most. “Wrestle the Reticence” straddles both
indie pop immediacy and arena-filling grandeur, and the title track emphasizes
his pop credentials with a song that should be blasting out of radios
everywhere. Perhaps the best of the bunch is “Downtown
Lights” (featuring Styles Lauren and Tyler Roberts). Its sophisticated,
contemporary R&B is entwined with a ‘50s jazz vibe and brings to mind a
grown-up “Birth of the Cool”.
Phil S.
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