So So Gay
Mark Evans has been getting about a bit over the past few months. From his staring role in the hot new musical Ghost to his exposing spread in Attitude, the valley boy has now released his latest album, The Journey Home. With all his recent activity, the standard was set high. Unfortunately, however, the music on offer largely fails to deliver as much as we would like, and doesn’t make the most of Evans’ talent.
That’s not to say that Evans does not have talent – from the second that the music starts, one of the first things that becomes apparent is that the boy can sing. For example, his first track, ‘Coming Home’, hit all the right notes and showcased his vocal ability well; a theme which he maintained throughout the whole album. There were a few stand-out tracks, like ‘To Where You Are’ and ‘Alive’, which do make the album feel like a brilliant first outing for the performer, and more than worth the price of purchase.
Now for the bad news. As good as some of the tracks are, the rest are too much alike – which left us wondering whether the album is mostly composed of filler. Overall it feels too safe, where instead it should be filled with daring song choices and intense blistering music to make it unique in a sea of less talented – but potentially braver – artists. It did not help that Evan’s theatrical music style, which works so well on stage, just doesn’t fit this medium very well. There are also one or two songs, such as ‘Brand New You’, which just felt like an auditory waste of time – as they fit neither the album or Evans’ vocal range.
Far from wishing a death-knell on this promising young talent, we simply want him to reach down inwards and bring out something a little more potent and elemental than what we have here. The frustrating thing is that we can sense that there is a lot of talent which has not yet been tapped, and that this album does not realise Evans’ potential. Perhaps it’s more to do with the production values, but the album feels as though it was pulled together without nearly as much thought as it should have received.
As much as we wanted to enjoy The Journey Home, we found this new album to be a sadly regrettable experience – but we do have high expectations for any future music and will be watching Evans’ future career carefully.
Go Get It: ‘Coming Home’
Forget It: ‘Brand New You’
