by Ivy Fowler
The one that got away. No, you didn’t accidentally click away to an AI generated Hallmark script. Stay with me here. You’re the lone survivor on the last CapMetro of the night, rain peddling down your reflection in the window. Headphones in, pining for happier days. Something about the holiday blues that takes you back to words never said, fights you wish you could take back. Cathartic? Chris Evans hopes so. The former Black Books drummer has come home to Austin as solo project Holy Islands. Happier Before, Holy Islands’ debut EP, hits the shelves Jan. 17, but not before we get to taste test his introspective musical independence. The title track drops as a single today, and if you can’t wait a month for the full project, your encore single Angels is waiting for you patiently.
“Happier Before” took me through the five stages of grief in four-and-a-half minutes, so, mission accomplished? With his soft guitar picking and slow building percussion Evans urges listeners and himself to reflect, to feel understood and let go. Isn’t that a little what we all need right now? The soft voice of Holy Islands swaying us into a soul-searching lullaby. And a female president. Yeah, that sounds nice. Chirs puts it best: “We are all Holy Islands. Sovereign. Sacred. Independent but fundamentally connected to one another. In a constant state of growth and change.”
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