Evermore - It's Too Late

Wed 4th Aug, 2004 in Music Reviews

With their prior two EPs, New Zealand trio, Evermore have been placed, indeed falsely so, in the generally lacklustre category of meat and potatoes style rock. Based purely on superficial contentions, such categorisation neglects completely the very element that makes Evermore something far more rarefied.

Often mistaken for mere simplicity is the rare ability for perfect balance and accord in both performance and particularly in song writing. Most bands, at least initially, have some preoccupation; namely, with flashy guitars, whose excesses are eventually replaced with clarity over time.

Having already found their own niche with the debut Oil And Water, Evermore have now, with their latest single It’s Too Late, traded bass for the shimmering notes of a keyboard to eschew any possible generic rock comparisons. Acoustic guitar and lucid vocals create a truly pristine sound without the gloss, and excessively smooth edges that are often required for radio.

Second track, Flow is more restrained and plaintive than its predecessor, while It’s Only Love betrays a penchant for the experimental. The final song on the single, a cover of Straightjacket Fit’s Down In Splendour, while ostensibly a hook-laden, three-minutes-thirty pop number, is no less effecting. It’s Too Late will surely be the one to break them.