Mark Solotroff

“Phantasmic Seam” (NERV003)

I have been repeatedly listening to the new self-released EaViL CD-R EP/demo, “Phantasmic Seam,” since
receiving it just after seeing the band play a triumphant opening set at the Glass Candy and Chromatics show
at Chicago’s The Empty Bottle, in mid-October.  Much like their show that night, which offered clear evidence
of the band’s significant progression since the last time that I saw them perform during the summer, their new
demo marks a strong development from their previous CD-R, “Le Miroir.”  This evolution is present in the
songwriting quality, the recording quality, and in the quality of the studio performances that were captured in
these seven songs.  Most significantly, EaViL displays much more confidence and poise, both in the recordings
and on stage, since I first saw them play in January of this year.

The duo, EaViL, do not fit easily into any subgenre slots that currently exist in Chicago.  Their unique brand of
minimal-synth, or dark synth-pop, or experimental electro-pop - or whatever label you might put on them – is
not a type of music that on can expect to see performed in a live setting, too often, in this city.  Mostly, it is the
domain of the small-club DJ, playing classics or maybe cult collectibles, to small crowds of devotees.  Even in
New York City, only a relatively small, but passionate, scene exists for this type of music.  In major European
cities, larger gatherings are more common, where people flock to clubs to hear DJs play songs that most of us
only know as obscure digital files, collected on file sharing compilations, with names such as “A Tribute To
Flexipop,” “New Wave Complex,” “Tribute To Some Bizarre,” and “Shockwaves.”

EaViL brings a “right now,” non-nostalgic approach to a style of music that, aside from a few radio hits, was
barely popular in the late-1970s and early- to mid-1980s, bringing to mind the diverse music released on such
innovative record labels as Mute, Some Bizarre, Fetish, Illuminated, Factory, and Beggars Banquet.  The group’
s analog synthesizer-driven sound may start off in a dark, dissonant place, but their increasingly complex song
structures insure that a fitting equilibrium will be achieved between dark and light, noise and melody, force
and fragility, and dirge and dance.

Who knows what the next year will bring for EaViL?  In all likelihood, they will start to make their move from
being a more clandestine treat seen at small clubs and spaces, to becoming more of a public creature, finding
their way into higher profile venues and shows.  It may be a very exciting year in which to follow their
movements.