Evoke Emotion

Snowday’s EP Evoke is the product of a bigger workspace and better equipment for the recording duo, Cam Solan and Chad Skinner. With all the space and new equipment, Snowday has been able to push themselves in their experimental sound. Evoke exists under the electronic genre, though not in the way that is usually seen; there is a more cohesive marriage between the electronic and the classical sounds.

Evoke opens with “Ceremony,” the shortest song on the EP by far, and with its rhythmic, hypnotic beats and chords, it creates a sound that draws up images of Egypt or the Middle East.  Multiple times throughout Evoke the music continues to have this ability to take the listener to various different scenes. “Detour” follows, still carrying that strong, hypnotic beat, but no longer with that touch of the Middle East. Instead, a gradual darkness begins to seep in, effectively removing that last location in the mind and delivering it to a darker place, more like the bottom of the ocean. The title track easily stands out due to the missing beat that has been carrying through so far and its lack of an electronic, synthesized sound; all that is left is just piano and a beautiful use of silence, creating the scene of a desolate snowy landscape. With “Evoke” focusing on silence, “Patterns” turns its attention to movement. The mix of the guitar, piano and synthesized beats creates the patterns that need to listened for. Evoke closes with “Her Day Ended Slowly,” which really brings out the dark quality that keeps appearing throughout every song. It is similar to “Evoke,” though instead of silence it is an omnipresent chord that the piano needs to break through. 

One of the brilliant aspects of Evoke is the use of negative space. It is heard primarily in the title track though it appears at certain points throughout the other songs as well. The ability to shape the music by the lack of sound is difficult and easily misinterpreted, but these are not issues for Snowday. Let the experimentation continue.