Richard Evans 

Aidoru 

Cold Star Media 

 

Formerly a member of the Manchester brit-rockers James, Richard Evans is spiralling up and out with his own brand of electro and synthpop that manifests as Mancunian maturity and magic. With his album Quantum out on April 25th, Richard Evans provides a taster. The new single is called Aidoru, which is the Japanese word for Idol. A representation of natural forces, spirit beings, or even gods and goddesses, the word Idol is often used to describe our cultural heroes. Is the power in the individual or in the pedestal? I suppose it depends on what they are idolised for and who pays for it. The song looks at the recent phenomenon of AI and how the technology is used to create virtual idols who cater for our desires without feeling the human connection in the process. Are the artists the programmers and the technicians, who may not have musical talent and star quality, or are the artists the virtual creations in the minds of those who enjoy them? Perhaps they are both artists, one being a dream and one being an engineering project. Perhaps there is no artist and it’s all completely fake. Richard Evans wants us to think about these things while enjoying a completely organic piece of music made with technology perfected and operated by human hands. Let’s watch the video. 

 

A brisk fan-wave of synth opens with staggered rhythmic bursts. Oriental instruments begin to create beautiful melodic atmosphere among the digital pulsations. A mix or layers brings ethereal and dreamy harmonies from the ether as Evans enters with the vocal. A synthpop style effect decorates his voice as the story of song begins to create a space-age world of fantasy and hope. Listening to the lush chords and driving bass, a sense of nuanced blissfulness washes through as the slightly scary lyrics give us all of our desires. What are we forgetting here, while fascinated by the sensation of having our dreams matched by reality? This song was made by a person.  


You can download music by Richard Evans on Bandcamp 

​You can find out more on the Richard Evans website 

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and Threads
  

Richard Evans
Dream Of The World
Cold Star Media
 
The Mancunian synthwave celebration continues with their very own Richard Evans. Back on his keyboards and computers, the juxtaposition of nostalgic space music and the magic of modern technology gives flight to this sonic songbird of sound. Dream Of The World EP presents the talented Evans in a setting that feels at home with the previous Sentinel plus an extension on the side. As we explore the new spaciousness and decorative intent, the title-track makes its way forward as the feature today. The British-Irish musician cut his teeth as the keyboard player in the popular rock band James before embarking on his own compositional creativity. No stranger to music, before turning his hand to electronics and synthesisers, Richard Evans played guitar and wrote songs for St Vitus Dancers. Inspired by artists like The Pet Shop Boys, Vangelis, Jean-Michel Jarre, and New Order, themes of the future of humanity in a technological world reinvent the 80s.
 
Strange, harmonised tones ring out in a progressive melody. New sonics join in with amplitudes and tone wavering in the abstract ambience. Whisks of synthesiser sweep the sounds into novel dimensions as the flow of notes and styles of wave merge in spacious and rich rooms. The vocal begins, Richard Evans adds a dreamy robotic edge to the human and introspective muse on the imagination. A series of musical breaks and rises keep the track moving through kinetic segments of transition as the vocal portrays a constancy among the reverse entropy. Richard Evans’ Dream Of The World conjures images of losing our sense of metaphor in favour of raw data via dystopian and designer realities.
 
Make sure to support the artist and buy Dream Of The World EP on Bandcamp

​​You can find out more on the Richard Evans website

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​Want to make your own analogue synthesisers? This book explains all.
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Richard Evans
Brave New World
From Sentinel
Cold Star Media


Ex James keyboard player Richard Evans has just released his debut album. Brave New World is the video single that flagships his electro sound. Synthwave and electronica sound like the future and what better way to push the boat out than by singing about it, too. Imagining a day where the human genome is completely different, thanks to contaminants in the water and gene-editing technology, Brave New World studies the possible reality that waits for us. Known for his prolific arts career, Evans is a phenomenal writer and digital artist with his music fields producing harvest all the while. The Manchester based musician has achieved nine awards already from the British Arts Council and another from Creative England. How does he do it?


Swishes of sound resonate with vibration and tone as the swelling begins. Keyboard layers smooch in darkly lit corridors as jostling harmonies make room for a swaggering percussion layer. Formations of like-minded bars add to the direction of the groove which invites the lyrics to begin. A brit-pop sound to Richard Evans' voice provides a soulful edge to the upbeat and lively composition. Meandering passages of flowing gated synth coalesce and sparkle in gleeful moments of realisation. Laid-back and also full of life, Brave New World fills the senses with an intelligent array of futuristic sounds.


You can visit Richard Evans online


Buy the music from Bandcamp


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