Here Come The Lights, the third LP by perennial Joyzine favourite Stephen EvEns, is a quite frankly ridiculous record. Each of the nine songs contained behind its glitter-strewn cover should come from an entirely different album – there’s the beautiful, poignant finger-picked, string-strewn heartbreaker ‘Firefly’, preposterous glam rock stomper ‘A Bee’, Beck-esque indie slacker funk oddity ‘BBQ Head’ and many more eclectic curiosities concealed within, and I’ve not yet touched on the implausible decision to open the whole shebang with ‘A Song for Europe’, a near eleven minute behemoth that spends as much of its run-time buzzing with static as it does warming your ears with the ethereal tones of a backing choir and a gently sparkling guitar line. None of this should work, none of this should fit, none of this should make me want to immediately begin the whole ludicrous endeavour again once the final jangle of deadpan psychedelic pop charmer ‘Happy New Year’ fizzles out. But it does. Somehow it does.
We asked Stephen EvEns to explain himself – here’s what he came back with.
These are the songs from my new LP titled “Here Come The Lights”. I like the title very much. Full of positivity and hope I think. Let’s see if the songs reflect that. Come on.
A Song For Europe
This song came about one lonely evening at a flat I was staying at in Crystal Palace. It was just noodling about until Bill Drake popped over to the studio one evening and started playing Casiotone over it. My head was filled with thoughts of travel and places I had been around Europe and made me feel joyous. The idea of travelling around always makes me feel joyous.
Firefly
I cannot tell you anything about this song. It’s too personal. Only I and the person I wrote it about know what it is about and it will remain that way. Suffice to say it’s about love being stronger and longer lasting than pain which is horrid yet fleeting. I shan’t betray that confidence but I shall hold that love and strength in my heart forever more.
BBQ Head
This is a song partially about food. About food and celebration and gathering your pals and loved ones for a feast. But it’s mostly about the fact that when I BBQ the smell permeates my massive head of weird hair and therefore I become BBQ Head. Kind of a low rent superhero that doesn’t have any real powers but they do have a plate of food for you and some ice cold refreshment to hand. When’s any superhero done that for you, eh? Take that Superman, suck it up Wonderwoman, what have you done for me lately, Captain Brine Fishing Boat Captain.
7 Bells
I used to be in a band prior to doing this where I was the guitar player. I was the only one willing to drive the tour van but that’s another story. Simply enough, this song is about avoiding having the shit kicked out of you. I’ve always been very good at spotting the trouble ahead. Mainly by being a big unit, with mad hair and reasonable height. I can look over the heads of my friends and see the group of young men who fancy having it “kick off” and deciding that I might be a good starting point for it. When it happens I have to try and guide my pals out of said building so we can make a quick exit before it descends into a thorough spanking. Not always easy if said pals are already three sheets to the wind and feeling “tasty” in themselves. True story that. We got away unscathed. Good old Alex.
Lazy Eyes
I wrote this song sat in my then flat in Streatham looking out at the parakeets and the lovely trees in my neighbours back garden and managed to write this song in almost the same length of time it took me to record it. It came together SO quickly that I wondered if someone else had written it? I checked a lot of my record collection for possible contenders but couldn’t find out. I like the words to this one because they make me feel a bit uncomfortable.
A Tree
I wrote this song a few years ago when I was burning up with a fever. Lying in bed feeling like hot poo. The only way to get to sleep was to kicker myself up and I had woken up with this tune in my head. So I got up, programmed some drums, plugged a guitar and a mic in and wrote down some feverish words about the pleasure I take in watching my dog, Rudy enjoy his daily walk. Too many words though, remembering them when we play live is an absolute nightmare. Should have thrown in a few “oooh baby’s” for good measure.
Hello, Salty-Salty!
The title is only loosely connected to this tune’s nautical bent. That’s my adorable nephew Jago who for some reason or other greeted me with said phrase. I persuaded my sister-in-law Helen to record him saying it and we stuck it throughout the song. The actual song is based on a friend telling me about the emotional scarring time her parents pulled her out of school to go on a round the world boat trip. They constantly walked around without any of their kit on, apparently. So I made a grossly exaggerated horror story from what they told me and here we are now talking about it.
A Bee
Knock Knock?
(Then you say “Who’s There?”)
A Bee.
(You say “A Bee who?”)
A BEE!!!!
Happy New Year
I wrote this the same time I wrote ‘Lazy Eyes’. It’s a little song about hope, looking back and seeing where you went wrong and realising it doesn’t matter. Another song about love and friendship. I like doing that because it’s mainly the only thing that matters, love and friendship. I hate New Year, my least favourite time of year BUT in this context it’s about renewal of how you view yourself. I wanted something slow and dirty that sounded like it grew out of the mud into something beautiful and hopeful. Hopefully I got that across and if I didn’t… what are you going to do about it?
Here Come The Lights is released on Onomatopoeia Records on 29th March. Order now on vinyl, CD and digital download via Bandcamp
Catch Stephen EvEns live at the following shows:
Sunday March 31, The Lexington w/ The Scaramanga Six, Angel Islington
Monday, 11 May, The Prince Albert, Brighton
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