Whoever claims that new music has become stale, is devoid of a message and lacks a well-needed shot of sonic adventurousness clearly is yet to experience the liberating and uplifting atmosphere that Evanuell’s music brings; and it’s a safe bet that the artists’ first official release “Just A Stranger” will be nothing the current generation of audiences and music lovers have heard in a long time. 

Best characterized by its playful dabbling in numerous styles under the rock umbrella, and its overall fearless melding of these sub genres into an effective combination of both driving and pounding rhythms and disarmingly soaring melodies, it would be a disservice to the infinite possibilities of Evanuell’s sound to simply describe the track as “progressive…” as it is a product of the artists’ journey through his personal life’s highs and lows. 

In fact, the single – which is available today on all digital music platforms – is a grandiose re-introduction to Evanuell’s continuing voyage to both exorcise personal demons and hopefully, save a few souls along the way. 

Starting-off mainly as a writer chronicling images, thoughts and emotions in his head from a very young age, Evanuell received a much-needed prod from a friend who not only felt the rawness and emotion in his work, but also urged him to share his creation with more people who would need to hear it. 

“Musically, I was introduced to music at a young age by our family’s driver, if you can believe – so it was a lot of pop, including stuff like the Backstreet Boys, and whatever was on the radio,” Evanuell smiles and reveals. (Notably, Evanuell was also part of the 2014 Berklee Songwriting Camp as part of his musical training…) “Of course, as I got older and gravitated towards friends who ultimately became bandmates, I was heavily into groups like Dream Theater, Muse, Queen… and the sound we were going for naturally became a mesh of all these groups: we were artists that wanted a sound that could tell a story, and express all sorts of feelings, regardless if it was something that was “radio-friendly” or easily digestible… just like when you hear a story, you can’t always really define the starting point and the end: it’s basically indulging in the highs and the lows, and that love for flair and drama in anything.”

Being the chief lyricist and architect of the songs, Evanuell came in with a main idea, guitar riffs and an arrangement, yet credits the entire composition and arrangement process of”Just A Stranger” with a fine assembly of musicians, namely bassist David De Castro, guitarist and violinist Karl Kopio, pianist and guitarist Mikael Alafriz and drummer Kevin Motus. The product – needless to say – is a veritable “what’s-next?” journey into musical exploration. 

“The goal with ‘Just A Stranger’ is to share the story, and make people understand that – yes – there is somewhere out there that understands your pain,” Evanuell shares about the future, as there is also a music video in the works. “I want to be able to use the music as an opportunity to reflect what everybody is going through… this is just an entry point of the possibilities of continuously releasing music through this and other platforms; it may seem that a lot of it is about myself, but this is basically just the tip of the iceberg: live gigs are in the horizon, and from this point-on, anything is possible with the message that comes with the music.” 

Source: Manila Bulletin (https://mb.com.ph/2022/08/26/pain-and-the-poetry-evanuell-debuts-with-his-powerful-single-just-a-stranger/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=pain-and-the-poetry-evanuell-debuts-with-his-powerful-single-just-a-stranger)