Sam Evian in “Plunge”
In the Space of Empathy
April 24, 2024
Photo by CJ Harvey
Web Exclusive
Sitting among all his equipment in a bare barn, Sam Evian shows Under the radar Flying Cloud Studios. Evian and his partner, Hannah Cohen, began building the recording studio (near Woodstock, NY) four years ago after purchasing property in the Catskill Mountains. The move away from Brooklyn gave Evian a new lease of life and more room for his creative recording endeavors.
“It's nice to spread out and not have to worry about making noise at odd hours,” says Evian, 35, who was born in Syracuse, New York. “I'm not your average townie, I come to raise the cost of real estate. I hit a wall in the city because it's hard to find a space that you can really own.”
Evian's fourth album, Dive, was released on March 22, but it seems like most of his recent focus has been on the music he's recording for other people. Artists from around the world flock to Bush Kill Creek: Blonde Redhead for their latest LP, Sit down to dinner; Palehound for Eye of the Bat; Helena Deland for Goodnight Summerland; Big Thief for Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You; Katie Von Schleicher? Cass McCombs for The tip of the bullet; Anna Burch for If you dream; Widowspeak for Plum; and, of course, he just finished Cohen's new album.
The recording process is more manic and chaotic when Evian attends to his own music, but every album he works on is skin he's grown and shed. “For someone else, I treat the studio like a hospitality business,” says Evian. “It's 90 percent hospitality, 10 percent fixing broken things. I leave no stone unturned to make people happy and comfortable. It translates into so many aspects of the project – there's a bedside manner, trying to be supportive and neutral and creative every time someone's trying to get through a song, trying to bare their soul. It's almost like being a therapist. In that way, it's almost a version of me, but when it's just my record, I can put it aside.”
Evian always does his best, constantly considering his peers and relationships. “Each album is a version of me, an imprint of me, a document of techniques and experimentation,” he says. “But I'm not super repetitive, I try to keep it interesting, fun and unique.”
For Dive, Evian didn't play much guitar at first, lending the duty to others while playing mostly bass. He didn't want the reproduction of ideas, wanting his songs to be lifted up by others. He didn't over-edit his vocals, let loose more this time, projecting more. He gets older, his voice changes and he sings louder.
Big Thief's Adrianne Lenker, whom Evian considers a brother, pushed him to sing live on tape. In a way, Lenker blessed it Dive session (listen to her solo on “Why Does It Take So Long”), which happened after a giant, cathartic party on New Year's Eve as 2022 became 2023. “The studio is over, I called everyone to come and celebrate “, says Evian. “Adrianne is sweet, caring and has an amazing ethic when it comes to her recording practice. He lived with us for most of the summer of 2020 after making the Big Thief record. She is her incomparable self.”
Also sanctification Dive it was Palehound's El Kempner. Evian met Kempner and Lenker around the same time (2013), saying, “I've always tried to be an older brother and our relationship has always been that way. Palehound hit the scene at a great time when you could see or play a show every other night [in Brooklyn]. Palehound was hard DIY, and they were so young. I was in awe of them.” Who work for Eye of the Bat brought the circle of faith.
As usual, fantastic music of all aspects continues to be produced and Evian has become a steady hand. “When you're building a studio space, you never know who's going to crawl in and out of the woodwork,” he says. “We're making a document, and if the document is captured in a three-minute moment, you'll have pure substance—it can be really special to hear. The energy translates, you can tell when the bass and drums were playing at the same time — they have that locked momentum. And you can tell when a vocal is wild and mean.”
Evian mentions Sly and the Family Stone's It's going to be a Riot as an example of a live recording, saying, “you can listen [Sly Stone] he bangs in and out, the bleeding rages—he sits in a room with the vocal mic as the band plays. This is the small indication that you were captured in a special moment.'' Evian strives to push the music into a raw, vulnerable space where the artist can be scared, “but excited to lay down. I hope it translates into a worthwhile listening experience.”
When it comes to a song in production, it all depends on where it's played, who's playing it, and when it's played. “It can happen when you put it down, or when you're improvising, or when it goes down, they put it down and pick it up, again, changing the key,” says Evian. “For me, the best songs are the ones I wrote in five minutes.”
One of Evian's favorite podcasts is A history of rock music in 500 songs. Presenter Andrew Hickey looks at 500 songs that shaped history between 1938 and 1999 and Evian recommends the episode 'Hey Joe'. “Jimi Hendrix popularized this song, but there were many versions before that,” he says. podcast makes Evian think hard about the life of a song. “I want to see a song go through different phases, go through. In the 50s and 60s it was common for songs to be covered, giving him a chance at another life. Hickey goes off on different tangents, talking at length about history and context. It's a complete 360.”
The trademark of Flying Cloud Studios is the restored 1974 MCI 16-track console from Florida. It has the classic American sound, the traditional warmth. We ask about his Evian guitars, but he says he's “not too picky.” Fender sent him a cheap bass five years ago and he used it Dive. He has a collection of keyboards and other loaner equipment that has accumulated over the years. “I love instruments with soul, and soul isn't expensive,” he says.
Evian loves the Beatles and when asked about the influence on his music, he laughs. “It's totally my Mecca, I grew up with the Beatles and jazz,” he says. “My dad and I were jamming out to Beatles tunes and Aid! it was the first LP I ever bought. The Red and Blue collections too. We have history. I never tire of their catalog—it's rich, beautiful, and full of surprises and creativity.”
Dive leans into an early jazz-influenced Paul McCartney space from which the harmonic perspective is defined. Evian's father is a jazz guitarist and his mother was a jazz singer. his parents messed around when he was growing up. “As soon as I stopped crying and being an uncontrollable baby, I'd be at their concerts,” says Evian. “I started playing the saxophone in the sixth grade and when I could carry a tune, I would play with my parents. We had a family band, which was a nice way to grow and learn.”
Evian's music is a reflection of his surroundings and the area around his property is the optimal area to immerse himself. The creek is littered with trash, and that's Evian's point. Dive or any of his other recent engineering works would not have been done in a city.
“I'm afraid of losing my joy in the creativity of the work I do, and I'm not in danger of that now, but burnout is real,” says Evian. “There are no weekends, no limits to what I will do to make this thing happen. The studio is a place of empathy. We speak truths, act kindly, and help each other flourish. I have learned so much about humanity here… like I said, like being a healer. I try to make people sing their hearts out. They have to be comfortable and happy to do it.”
Sam Evian 2024 North American tour Dates:
4/24: Montreal, QC – Le Ritz PDB
4/25: Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall
4/26: New York, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
4/27: Washington, DC – Atlantis
4/28: Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda's
4/30: Toronto, ON – TBD
5/2: Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall
5/3: Milwaukee, WI – Vivarium
5/4: Minneapolis, MN – 7th Street Entry
5/5: Davenport, IA – Raccoon Motel
5/7: Denver, CO – Globe Hall
5/9: Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge
5/10: Boise, ID – Neurolux
5/11: Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom
5/13: Seattle, WA – Madame Lou
5/15: San Francisco, CA – The Chapel
5/17: Los Angeles, CA – Lodge Room
5/18: Los Angeles, CA – Lodge Room
5/21: Austin, TX – Antone's
5/22: Denton, TX – Rubber Gloves
5/24: Nashville, TN – The Blue Room
5/25: Asheville, NC – Eulogy
5/26: Carrboro, NC – Cat's Cradle
* All US dates with Hannah Cohen as support
Read our interview on The End with Evian from 2021.
from our partners at http://www.undertheradarmag.com/interviews/sam_evian_on_plunge