Album Review: The Evens' Get Evens
Call it eerily prophetic that a politically charged album titled Get Evens was released shortly before the GOP lost control of Congress. Unfortunately, that might be the only noteworthy thing about the CD, released by Ian MacKaye and The Warmers’ Amy Farina under the moniker The Evens. Let’s get something off our chests: Yes, we understand that MacKaye is a legend in the D.C. music scene. We enjoy Fugazi and Minor Threat just as much as the next reviewer. But that doesn’t mean we should go easy on him. A misstep is a misstep.
The greatest thing about The Evens’ 2005 self-titled debut album was that while it wasn’t entirely memorable, it managed to capture the sound of two like-minded musicians getting together and recording the first thing that came to mind – short bursts of stripped-down, improvised alternative rock. At times, it was the musical equivalent of a decent Christopher Guest film. The worst thing about Get Evens is that it sounds like two like-minded musicians got together and recorded the second thing that came to mind – drawn out but still stripped-down alternative rock.
Musically, the tracks tend to play out like extended variations on past themes – “Everybody Knows” sounds like a less incendiary or exciting version of 2005’s “All These Governors,” and “Eventually” could easily be the album’s “Minding One’s Business.” Lyrically, however, the songs still manage to carry some weight. “Everybody Knows,” for example, talks about politicians from across the country moving into the region, “but Washington is our city.” The closer “Dinner With the President” cleverly asks, “Why won’t this invitation come? / Dinner with the president/ Maybe we don’t have any common interests/ Maybe we don’t speak the same tongue.”
It’s a shame the music doesn’t always match the fierceness of the lyrics. When MacKaye and Farina shout, “Everybody knows you are a liar,” the baritone guitar and drum combination sounds a little too underwhelming. While this setup played well in the debut, it gets a little stale in the follow-up. It’s like constantly hearing Julian Casablancas’ distorted vocals on The Strokes’ records; you keep wondering, “That’s great, but what else can you do?”
The Evens’ debut album caught a lot of people off guard because it was a fun little record that had no expectations. Who knew MacKaye had pop songs in him? But Get Evens has the unfortunate burden of catering to listeners’ heightened expectations, and it doesn’t sound up to the task.