Performer Notes

The music of Oklahoma's Evangelicals befits its name: rich, zealous, and unrestrained. The four-piece form songs that, in the vein of indefinable bands such as the Arcade Fire, dance in and out of styles, often switching up abruptly between songs, as with the opening title track. On 2008's THE EVENING DESCENDS, the outfit's second effort, frontman Josh Jones's wailing falsetto hovers over the elaborate landscapes, with a majesty somewhere between Geddy Lee and Jeremy Enigk. Passion overflows on stories such as the hook-laden "Midnight Vignette" and the summer's day reflection of "Skeleton Man." THE EVENING DESCENDS uncovers a band fired by imagination and unbound by any sense of simple definition.

Professional Reviews

Spin (p.93) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[S]inger/guitarist Josh Jones plucks shiny melodies from the haze..."

Uncut (p.86) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Evangelicals sing of skeletons, snowflakes and things that go bump in the night with witty samples and imaginative arrangements."

Mojo (Publisher) (p.113) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "There's a shimmering SOFT BULLETINesque fuzziness about THE EVENING DESCENDS..."

Harp (magazine) (pp.110-111) - "The super-saturated freakery, the horror-flick creepery and the blasts of un adulterated musical ecstasy exist side by side on THE EVENING DESCENDS."

Paste (magazine) (p.71) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "Haunted-house backing vocals, spooky synths and oversexed guitars combine to give EVENING the delightfully campy horror-movie vibe that its album art suggests."

Clash (magazine) (p.111) - "Evangelicals return with a more measured approach to their psych pop....It's quite a potent stew they brew up....A bit of an opus on the quiet..."