This album’s been a long time coming. Years back, Evarose – under a different name – treaded the boards at small venues across Oxfordshire, when there was a smidgen of an alternative scene to speak of. Fast forward ten years: their friends had their turns in the spotlight in bands like Francesqa and MMX, there’s barely a music scene to speak of in Oxford aside from Foals, Radiohead, and some questionable hip hop, and Evarose (despite some critically acclaimed releases) still haven’t got that much of a following.
So what’s different now? Well, all those years they’ve had have allowed them the time and space to make exactly the album they wanted. Releasing ‘Invisible Monsters’ on PledgeMusic has given them total control as well; important in a world where people are always keen to clone and pigeonhole female bands, despite more often than not showing a far greater variance than their male counterparts.
From the unstoppable opener ‘Routes’ through the instrumental ‘Breathing Space’ – which acts as just that – to the dancing closer ‘Someone Else To Blame’, the energy doesn’t ever falter. A solid record of rock songs, although there are catchy melodies and upbeat hooks to boot, it doesn’t quite venture in to the world of pop rock.
They’ve supported Against The Current on their most recent tour and while they share some similar pop tendencies, they stay away from anything sickly sweet in favour of a far grungier sound. ‘Glitch’ even has a touch of 90s riot grrrl about it, with a Courtney Love snarl and slow, pounding drums. ‘Quicksand’ follows suit with a brooding verse, chomping guitars and a fist-pumping, defiant chorus.
‘Provoke Me’, while an unsurprising choice for lead single, isn’t the best song on the album. Despite its sing-a-long chorus, it’s not as fun as the romantic but confrontational ‘Telephonic’ (“why are you any different from the rest?”) or the slow-burning but huge-sounding ‘The Cause and The Cure’. Lead singer Dannika Webber’s vocals don’t falter throughout. While she has all the makings of a great frontwoman she never outshines the other band members (Imogen Leslie, Connie Raitt and Robyn Griffith) and the years of friendship behind them are as obvious as their exciting musicianship.
While some of you might think, “but hey, it’s 2016, we’re all equal now anyway,” the fact of the matter is there’s still an absence of bands of women in rock. Evarose are positive role models for any young women who want to make it in this scene. It might not be easy but with a little patience and a lot of hard work, who knows what could happen?
KATHRYN BLACK