Eversame is a band out of Slovakia, who recently released their second LP LOVE ENDS FAST, AND NEVER at the end of February. With tinged influences of slowcore, shoegaze, and hardcore this album transcends genre barriers and creates something truly special. The 8-song – 38-minute album is a large step in evolving their sounds from their first album Tell Me Where The Flowers Are.
Soft-spoken midwest-emo-tuned guitars and vocals define Eversame’s first album. It is reserved and low-key throughout, subdued with emotion. Very easily able to be classed in the midwest-emo category. You will not run into the tapping guitar flicks that define much of the midwest-emo sound, but the tuning, timbre, and performance fit right in with contemporaries of a similar vein. A mixture of Sweet Pill and Circus Trees comes to mind.
The plucky guitars are dropped completely for LOVE ENDS FAST, AND NEVER. Instead, the distortion is brought up to an 11. The entire production philosophy is changed with the drums, bass, guitars, and vocals all brought to the same level, nothing necessarily in front of the other, hallmarks of noise rock and shoegaze. The creative influences came from all over and are worn on the sleeve. I was awestruck at the difference in sound from their first to second album. Graduating from the subdued emo to a genre-bending shoegaze album is almost jarring. But I love what was accomplished here.
The first track “glimmer” shows off this change of direction from the get-go. The booming drums and fuzzy guitar let you know what you are in for from the start. This love song capitalized at the end with the repeating “Where we might have a chance” lets Paulína’s vocals fly. Floating above ethereal and dreamy in contrast to the bludgeoning bass and heavy riff.
The next shocking tonal shift comes on the fourth track “did.will”. So far you are lulled into these pleasing exquisite vocals over the booming shoegaze-y instrumentals. And “did.will” bombards you with a full-on hardcore start. Akin to Gouge Away or Year of the Knife this song rips the dreamy fabric previously established for some vicious and aggressive performances. It does settle down to the back half of the track but the feeling persists. Eventually, it builds back to the previous rage from the beginning and this was the point I realized this album was special.
The title track “love ends fast, and never” builds even more on all the elements previously introduced. Sprinkling in hardcore, emo, and punk, the heavy shoegaze from the first half already feels like a distant thought. It exemplifies what I find beautiful about this album. Eversame do not hold themselves to any standard or genre that could define it. Instead, they are able to experiment with whatever they may find exciting, and make an album that transcends boundaries.
LOVE ENDS FAST, AND NEVER takes on the stages of grief through a heartbreak, progressing through complex emotions. The stories you recount to yourself of feeling alone, unable to move on from heartbreak, not feeling like you are enough. All themes felt throughout, but the closing song “still, endlesslessly” provides the throughline and the emotional climax for the album. The closing chorus repeats “Loren and George, Barbara and Claudine / All of them here, but I still want you near me / I’ll never stop searching for you in the whole sea / Theresa is yours, but who was when you kissed me” poignantly sticking home the uncertainty and loneliness felt throughout the rest of the LP.
A story of loneliness and processing those emotions necessitates a plethora of sounds, and Eversame accomplishes that feat. Blending together a gambit of genres to fit whatever the mood calls for is something most bands cannot pull off. A long list of genre monikers cannot properly describe this album, it needs to be experienced. The growth and genre defiance Eversame shows here is nothing less than incredible. An album worthy of multiple playthroughs to catch everything they put in. I was hooked on the fuzzy and distorted guitars, but it kept growing on me to be one of my favorite releases of the year.
Written by Thomas Peterson
