Evans The Death should be what we like in an indie pop band — pleasing female vocals, slightly dark, fond of making a racket and a spirit of independence. But, we have to say, there’s just something about this that doesn’t quite float our boat.
Evans The Death are a bit more Evans the Runny Nose. We feel mean being mean to them, but we can’t see where the mass appeal would be.
Much as we like indie pop, this doesn’t do much for us though they’d do well at Congleton pub The Church House’s Up The Country festival, an ultra-local indy festival for a devoted crowd. We read a review that mentioned the Mekons and X-Ray Spex as comparisons, clearly written by someone who had never heard either of these two seminal bands. The kind of reviewer who calls them “noiseniks” to avoid actually saying anything.
On the plus side, they have the spirit of early indie (though much of that early indie was distinctly average) and do a mean line in song titles. They’re certainly not bland. Opener Haunted Wheelchair is pleasantly noisy, while track two Suitcase Jimmy has a Beatles-esque riff and some nice guitar. The trouble is, it never really goes anywhere from that promising start; a lot of noise for little reward. Still: they’re on Fortuna POP, a cool label, and fans of very indie-sounding indie might go for this. Try No Imitations for loud, Hey Buddy! for melodic.
Review Corner 
“We don’t want to mean to them but we’re going to call them a runny nose anyway”. Nice. If you don’t want to be mean, maybe don’t be mean? Reviews aren’t supposed to mean. You can review something you don’t like without being shitty about it.
You have a point but I do feel mean criticising someone who has got an album out – to get that to point requires a lot of hard work, dedication and talent.
But my main aim is to tell readers whether or not to spend their hard-earned cash on an album and in this case it’s not, unless you’re a real fan of grassroots indie.
The runny nose joke – it might not be very funny but I was trying to make the point that their sound is less death and more a common cold, without actually saying they’re a bit dull, or even just not reviewing the album at all.
I’d already used “dull” for another review and I try to say something different for each album.
I like most stuff by the way and a lukewarm review is quite rare. Two in a week almost never happens.
Just to repeat: the option is not between a shitty and non-shitty review, it’s between something saying an album is out and nothing at all. We’re only a small weekly in a rural bit of England but we’re well read and, as far bands go, every little helps. The only worse than being talked about etc…