I'm not a very big of Into It. Over It (otherwise known as Evan Weiss) it turns out. I first became aware of Evan's music at Fest the first time I went - the name kept coming up and I knew he'd done a a split with Koji whose music I enjoyed very much late one night in the CMC. A short while later IIOI was playing in Kingston on what turned out to be a very varied line-up - PJ Bond (who we'd also seen that night in CMC), Great Cynics (who I seem to see all the time), IIOI and Broadway Calls. Banquet had a deal where you'd get the Broadway Calls EP they were releasing for £2 more than just buying the ticket for the gig, so I have a copy of that (which I'll get round to writing about eventually).
I enjoyed Evan's set that night - he is a great story teller and each song came with a lengthy and interesting story about it. In hindsight, I remember the stories much more than I do any of the songs, which now is a red flag. Of course, at the time, I couldn't benefit from that hindsight so decided to buy a record after the show. I asked him which he would recommend to a new-comer and he suggested Proper - his only "traditional" album at that time - and I bought it.
Something I find happens a lot is that singer-songwriters decide to record their solo songs with a full band. In the case of Keven Devine, it works quite well but I do often think I'd prefer to hear them solo (it's also worth mentioning that he has some incredible songs that would work however they were recorded). In the case of IIOI I can't say I feel the same; Evan's songs, when played with a full-band, just sound like somewhere between emo and pop-punk. I'm a moderate fan of emo, but it's not a genre I obsess over. Pop-punk does nothing for me. The charm of a lot of these songs when played on an acoustic guitar is lost on the record. I'm pretty sure I enjoyed a few of these songs live that night but I couldn't tell you which ones they were. Very little stands out for me on the album.
It's not a bad record - it's important to note that - it just doesn't do very much for me. As a result I don't listen to it very often at all. Listening to it now, it's perfectly ok, but I could find many other records I enjoy listening to much more.
For some reason, a few months later I bought another IIOI album - 52 Weeks on double-cd. There were many contributing factors in that purchase: I'm a sucker for a concept album (52 songs, each written and recorded weekly over the course of a year); I really wanted to believe that there might be IIOI recordings I enjoyed as much as that show in Kingston; and finally because I had a fully-stamped Banquet loyalty card so was feeling a bit adventurous. On a number of occasions since that first listen I've tried to make it through 52 Weeks again but I keep quitting at various points throughout the (long) album with varying degrees of hatred for the album. One saving grace of Proper is that it's at least a reasonable length.
So yeah, despite a few good attempts, the music of Evan Weiss is not for me.
Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 12
Cost: £10 new
Bought: gig
When: 08/12/11
Colour: Grey
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code
