UK-Irish Synthwave Artist RICHARD EVANS Releases 'Sentinel' Album
UK-Irish synthwave artist Richard Evans releases 'Sentinel' album on CD, shares video for 'Brave New World'
FOR FANS OF: Rational Youth, Pet Shop Boys, Kraftwerk, New Order, Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis, Gary Numan
FORMATS: digital and white vinyl
Live photos by Jason Lock. Other photos by SJ Manns
Manchester-based synthwave artist Richard Evans released his debut album 'Sentinel' on CD on May 31. Presented by Cold Star Media, this superb eight-track collection tells the story of humanity at a tipping point and a world trapped in a climate crisis. He also presents the video for 'Brave New World' with a bold message about our planet.
"This song explores future human evolution, alluding to Aldous Huxley's novel of the same name. The first verse is about micro-plastics that contaminate the foetus in the womb, altering the genetics of a new generation. The second verse refers to CRISPR-Cas 9, a gene editing tool that allows us to alter physical traits in embryos. Together, pollutants and scientific progress are changing the path of human evolution," says Richard Evans.
"For the music, I wanted to evoke a retro-future mood so placed these serious lyrics into an electropop mix of layered, evolving synths underpinned with pulsing sequences and rhythms."
A British-Irish electronic musician, writer and digital media artist, Evans was formerly keyboardist in UK cult band James, with whom he also co-wrote and recorded material, and also a guitarist and songwriter for St. Vitus Dancers prior to that. Getting his start in the early 1980s, his independent creative projects have received nine awards from Arts Council England and one from Creative England, as well as being commissioned for various projects by the University of Manchester and the Manchester Science Festival.
Richard Evans' draws inspiration from real-world science, exploring biotechnology, machine intelligence and the environment. For this album, existing songs were refined and new material was written, combining the warmth of classic synths with pared-down lyrics that explore real-world subject matter. Recorded at Evan's home studio, this album was mixed by Hervé Girardin.