An Experimental Indie-Rock EP from Evahfar

Multi-instrumentalist, producer, and songwriter Stephen Murray comes back to the music scene with a brand-new project that redefines his approach. The release blends in all kinds of cinematic backbone along with indie rock aesthetics, garage overtones, and a newfound pop sensibility that feels thriving.

Now, this record is definitely a bit experimental, which is one of the best parts about it. The whole release has certain kinds of surprises around its corners.

This is especially so in terms of the production. The way he produced the record showcases how he's willing to branch out and create atmospheres while still giving you that sort of radio-friendly indie-rock feel, so you have songs that are pop-riddled, but have a great, edgy overtone.

Other times, you have songs that are spacious, delicate, and flowing.

I feel like this is because Stephen is a guitarist first and foremost. Or at least, guitar is his specialty. He's absolutely in love with the craft of performing on the instrument, and this record is something that lets him play around with the idea of holding back a little bit in terms of creating more emotional instrumental pieces, and lets him dive straight into writing rock songs.

This is also the first project where he's actually singing on it, and you would never think that when you heard it.

The other thing that kind of blows my mind about this record is that it feels like it was recorded live. It feels like the whole thing is a live band recording, and the energy is just flowing between the players.

Of course, Stephen himself performed and recorded all the instruments. But it's pretty outstanding how he's able to create that vivacious live performance of style and feel.

The project is called Evahfar, and this debut EP release is self-titled.

The first track is called "SEER-sha", and it comes right in with that gritty garage rock tone, live drums, great progression, and the vocals start flowing into the track naturally.

I love how this track displays some vintage tones. The guitar has this sort of real classic rock feel to it, but that also has to do with the progression that he's playing as well.

The vocals are softly delivered through a lot of this track, which adds great texture to the raw rock approach.

He performs lower and higher notes throughout the track, but I feel like when he hits those higher ones, it's got this catchiness to it.

The song has quick little blips and breakdowns that give you hints of math rock influence, but just hints. It doesn't go too far with them. They give you a little taste of something extra. They had a little flavor to the song.

To me, this track still has that expansive feel. It still feels filmic to me.

This is followed by a track called "Pink Goddess", which has a crunchy beginning with palm-muted riffs that open up into thriving chords, and this one kind of thrashes out a little bit.

The first track also hits pretty hard in terms of the guitar performance, but this one has a thrashier kind of feel to it.

One of the coolest things about this, is that the distortion is not overdone. It's kind of light, so you can hear all the notes and all the chords perfectly.

This one also has sort of softer vocals to it with different kinds of melodies more in the mid-range, and some of them are very catchy and memorable.

As I mentioned earlier, Stephen is also performing the drums on this record. They are driving; they added a lot of liveliness to the songs, and you can feel how he probably starts with those drums with the rest of the song in his brain, and because the drumming can be intense, the guitars end up feeling that way as well.

It's like he uses one aspect of the song to push off of and create the rest.

This is, once again, why his more softly performed vocal approach works with this record. It has a different energy to it, and because it's more melodically based and less thrashy, it has a calming feel that brings to mind elements of shoegaze, for example.

At times, his vocals also have a bit of reverb effect on them, which also brings the genre to mind as well. Perhaps he's influenced by some of this stuff too.

"Vines" is a much more stripped-down track, focusing mainly on one or two guitar parts, no drums, and vocals that are crisp and clear.

I feel like this is one of the best vocal performances on the record because it seems like he's experimenting a little bit with his voice and also how he's recording his vocals.

I love that you can hear every lyric crystal clear.

"Chalo" is an absolutely huge track that blends both the melodic and mellow, cinematic and vast, with the rock and vintage tones.

There are vocals on the track, but they're sort of scattered about here and there; it doesn't feel like there are full lyrics on this one, but they're used more as an instrument themselves.

The vocals on this one are more to add additional elements, melodies, and build on that atmosphere he's able to create with the instruments.

The final and closing track is called "Shadow Falls", which expresses some personal sentiment and is, again, a bit stripped down to just one guitar and vocals, it seems.

I really like this approach for the record too because, as a closing track, it makes perfect sense.

You can also hear additional elements of his guitar performance on this one as he goes off a little bit further into the depth of the instrument here.

All in all, this was an outstanding EP that absolutely blew me away simply because this was done by one person.

Just the thought of being able to create full-fledged songs that sound like live bands performing on your own is something I can barely fathom.

Only the artist knows how it begins and where to go from there to bring songs like these to fruition.

I would most certainly consider this to be an experimental indie-rock EP that you certainly don't want to miss, especially if you're into rock music with a bit more layers and aren't afraid to branch out.

So, check out Evahfar, and remember where you heard it first.

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